Cost of living in Vietnam

Cost of living depends on where you live. Hanoi and Saigon are expensive compared to Quang Ngai. In door eating and drinking is more expensive that on the street. I currently live very well on 20 million dong per month. Half of that is spent on beer and women, the rest I waste...lol

Example same beer 6000 on the street, 12000 in cafe. Fried noodles and egg 10000 on street, 20000 in cafe. Granted these are Quang Ngai prices.

I pay about 20 million ₫ a month here in Cần Thơ.  That includes a servant and eating out a lot.

Others: woke up one morning with what felt like gas pain, but nauseous, next day I was in the hospital having my gall bladder out.  Three days in there, surgery, anesthesia, IVs ... $500.  In the USA it'd have been $30,000 minimum and insurance would have found some way to screw me over. 

Electricity: we pay like three mill a month.  Something is wrong.  I hear about fraudulent power meters and I bet we have one, we only run AC in one room at night.

Vegetarian food about one takeout in three.  Very cheap.

I make my money writing software for clients abroad.  Mac and iOS.  Learning Android.

20 million/month for 2 adults and an infant. That includes 4 million/month for housekeeper/nanny, and about 6 million/month for all utilities. Does NOT include my rent, which is paid by my company.

HCMC, District 2

> accommodation prices - My apartment is $1500 a month, unfurnished, 2 bdrm, 1 office, plus utilities. Before I paid $600 a month in Thao Dien in a 2 story house for just one bedroom plus utilities. Utilities can range from 800,000 vnd (approx ~$40) to 2,000,000 vnd (approx ~$100) per month depending on usage.

Then there's the maid service. Total about 2,000,000 VND to 3,000,000 (negotiable.) Best maid I had for that price came 6 times a week for about 3 hours a day. 

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc ...)
I believe the bus is about 4,000 vnd (CHEAP!) Taxi fare is about 10,000 to 12,000 per km or something. Taxi's aren't expensive but a luxury to most locals. Another option is a motorbike taxi (Xe Om) and its usually half the cost of a taxi or less depending on negotiation with the driver.
HCMC will have an updated train system but thats like 20 years in development.
If you know the way around the city and bus routes, take the bus. Otherwise take the taxi like Mai Linh or Vinasun.

For long distances from city to city, you can take the trains. For example, from HCMC to Nha Trang, its half the cost of an airline ticket.


> food prices(per month, how much does it cost you?)
Food can be really cheap to expensive depending where you go. Veggies and fruit are really cheap here. The imported foods from US, Australia, Europe can be higher and relatively similar to prices in their countries. I spend about $500 to $800 a month on groceries and eating/drinking and entertainment. If I cooked at home more often it would be a lot cheaper around $300 a month with local products.

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance)
N/A

> eduction prices (if you need to pay)
N/A

> energy prices (oil, electricity)
I pay about 400,000 VND to 600,000 VND a month.

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone)
All for about $50 a month.

> prices of a good menu in a traditional restaurant

> prices of a beer and or a coffee in a regular pub
Beer at a convenient store - 10,000 to 30,000 depending on the beer. Tiger, Heineken, 333, Saporo, etc.
At a bar - 30,000 to 40,000 VND.
At a high end bar - 80,000 VND to 150,000 VND
Swanky Restaurants - 200,000 VND and up

> price of the cinema
From 40,000 VND to 200,000 VND (3D)
Tuesdays are happy hour

Phi Long wrote:

> Utilities can range from 800,000 vnd (approx ~$40) to 2,000,000 vnd (approx ~$100) per month depending on usage.

If you're referring to only electricity, that falls in line with my costs. For me, add an additional 200,000-300,000 for gas and water.

Phi Long wrote:

>Then there's the maid service. Total about 2,000,000 VND to 3,000,000 (negotiable.) Best maid I had for that price came 6 times a week for about 3 hours a day.

My housekeeper works 50 hours/week for 4,000,000/month. You tend to get a better deal (rate/hour) if they are employed full-time. This is the going rate for a Vietnamese who speaks NO English. Those who can speak English usually want 5-6,000,000 for full time. 

Phi Long wrote:

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc ...)
I believe the bus is about 4,000 vnd (CHEAP!) Taxi fare is about 10,000 to 12,000 per km or something. Taxi's aren't expensive but a luxury to most locals. Another option is a motorbike taxi (Xe Om) and its usually half the cost of a taxi or less depending on negotiation with the driver.

If you're planning to stay in Vietnam for several years, BUY a motorbike. Even if you rent a motorbike, depending on how often you use it, and how far you go, the cost to rent will be less than taxi fare. I don't advise expats to ride the city buses.

Phi Long wrote:

> food prices(per month, how much does it cost you?)
Food can be really cheap to expensive depending where you go. Veggies and fruit are really cheap here. The imported foods from US, Australia, Europe can be higher and relatively similar to prices in their countries. I spend about $500 to $800 a month on groceries and eating/drinking and entertainment. If I cooked at home more often it would be a lot cheaper around $300 a month with local products.

Agree with this.

Phi Long wrote:

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance)

$4000-$5000 USD for a one year, family coverage policy, with coverage throughout Asia, EXCLUDING USA, NO deductible, NO co-pay.

Phi Long wrote:

> education prices (if you need to pay)

$10,000-$15,000 USD per student per school year at a good international school. (This is probably low - there are some as high as $20,000 USD per school year.)

Phi Long wrote:

> energy prices (oil, electricity)
I pay about 400,000 VND to 600,000 VND a month.

I thought the utilities you listed at the top included electricity. Would this be water, gas, etc.?

Phi Long wrote:

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone)
All for about $50 a month.

About right, unless you want much faster internet. I pay 1,540,000 VND/month for the fastest ADSL available in my area.

Phi Long wrote:

> prices of a good menu in a traditional restaurant

Agree in general with your listed items.

This Question was asked in different forms several times in the blog. The answer depends on the individual. The range starts from 3M VND a month (living like local wage earner) to 50M+ VND (the Donald Trumps of HCMc or that local guy who drives around in a Lamborghini or purple Rolls Royce)

I ran a spreadsheet out for 6 months awhile back  for every VND I spent and came up with a monthly average of 30mil VND a month. We own our own home so rent is not in the figures. I did add in what we have to pay for our transportation (van & driver) for our trips to Can Tho and Saigon and the surrounding areas, also the costs for visa's. We have a maid 24/7 that we pay 2.5 mil VND a month which is also included. We  buy quite of bit of imported grocery's also which adds up.

hELLnoi wrote:

This Question was asked in different forms several times in the blog. The answer depends on the individual. The range starts from 3M VND a month (living like local wage earner) to 50M+ VND (the Donald Trumps of HCMc or that local guy who drives around in a Lamborghini or purple Rolls Royce)

It's likely impossible for an expat to live here like a local wage earner, because for one, they won't be allowed to live in the same areas as the local wage earners with the lowest rents, and secondly, as a foreigner, they would never get the same low rent cost even if they could live there. Not to mention, I know of very few expats who would WANT to live in the Vietnamese "ghettos". So to even imply that any foreigner could live here for as little as 3M/month is very misleading to readers of this forum. The majority of expats here live in similar conditions to me and Phi Long, so our costs outlined in our posts are what I would consider average. YES, you can live here for less, and YES, you can live like a king with more.

saigonmonkey, you are looking at HCMc standards and status.
Vietnam is 1,700Km from North to South. There are many "English teachers" around living on USD500/10.5M VND a month in HCM, and less in the Mekong. There will be teachers from Philipines. How do you think they will live?
No foreigner can boast to owning their own home, like you. Well, not in their own name!(another topic else where)

hELLnoi wrote:

saigonmonkey, you are looking at HCMc standards and status.
Vietnam is 1,700Km from North to South. There are many "English teachers" around living on USD500/10.5M VND a month in HCM, and less in the Mekong. There will be teachers from Philipines. How do you think they will live?
No foreigner can boast to owning their own home, like you. Well, not in their own name!(another topic else where)

Were you talking to me or Saigonmonkey? If it was me I assure you that this 4200sm home we live in is ours with the red and pink papers in her name (VK), not any bloodsucking relatives, and I wasn't boosting just sating that rent wasn't in the monthly 30mil.

My partner is a dual citizen and our house is in his name.  We also own a bungalow in Hàm Ninh in Phú Quốc and when we stay there we are living, briefly, like locals, if locals spent half the day on iPads.  It makes for a relaxing few days but I couldn't take it for life.  As a retreat, ok.

We also own five nhà trợ nearby.  I couldn't live in one of them for long.  It's just too bare.  The bungalow is luxurious by comparison.

hELLnoi wrote:

saigonmonkey, you are looking at HCMc standards and status.

Where do the MAJORITY of expats in Vietnam live?

hELLnoi wrote:

Vietnam is 1,700Km from North to South. There are many "English teachers" around living on USD500/10.5M VND a month in HCM, and less in the Mekong. There will be teachers from Philipines. How do you think they will live?

10.5M is quite a bit more than 3M, wouldn't you say? All I said was that it's not likely ANYONE can live here for 3M/month. Do YOU?

hELLnoi wrote:

No foreigner can boast to owning their own home, like you.

Uhmmmm... That would be Budman, not me.

Apologizes Budman on the house.
The property belongs to the Named Person on the Ownership papers.
(Another previous thread )

in hcm city , I spend 10 millions per month ... i am renting a house in cach mang thang tam , district 3 ... and working for forgein company in Bitexco district 1...
the life in hcm will be boring if ur income is not good ... I see a lot of fun activity in hcm city but not easy for a person who just has a medium income ...
vietnam is total different recently , working and living are more and more terrible ... who has same idea with me ?

good thread

Resurrection successful, new life in an old post. Now if I could only figure how to reverse the banning process...

I pay 6 million for my house and 4 million for our housekeeper. So I'm at 10 million before I even start to add up utilities and food

VungTauDon wrote:

I pay 6 million for my house and 4 million for our housekeeper. So I'm at 10 million before I even start to add up utilities and food

If I add up everything recurring I am paying about what I would pay for electricity an natural gas in a winter month near Seattle.  That's for a much larger and nicer house and a live-in housekeeper.

everyone seems to have a housekeeper. My fiance is strict on that absolutely not a chance having a housekeeper. She wants to do all the house chores.

Well guess we'll see if my 3 mil monthly budget on my fiance's 5 mil/mth salary can support us both. This will be in Bien Hoa btw and no house rental to pay.

Our housekeeper is actual called a helper, I know there is a VN word for it just don't know what it is.
She is live-in and is a cross between a nanny and housekeeper. My wife works full time so she is a huge help to us.

VungTauDon wrote:

Our housekeeper is actual called a helper, I know there is a VN word for it just don't know what it is.
She is live-in and is a cross between a nanny and housekeeper. My wife works full time so she is a huge help to us.

I've never heard anything but "người giúp việc," but I'm not a native speaker.  I have asked.  All my dictionaries are Bắc based.

khanh44 wrote:

My fiance is strict on that absolutely not a chance having a housekeeper. She wants to do all the house chores.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop ...

Phi Long,

After reading your post, you are a high roller since your apt. alone is $1500 USD and you spend $500-$800 on food a month.  Must be nice to live with that kind of budget.  Good job.

Most Vietnamese families do not take home more than $300-$350 USD a month!!!   Putting things in perspective of course.

Additionally, most expats do not make more than $2000 USD.  Guess they can't live your lifestyle either.

Tin Tin

*** THE TRUTH ***

1)  Data below is based on HCMC (Saigon).

2)  Budget and cost of living is based on your lifestyle.  If you live like a high roller or rock star then you will spend MORE.  If you live like a middle class person then you will obviously spend LESS.  Common sense here.

How much does it cost to live in Vietnam?

> accommodation prices.
$250-$500 USD  (depends on what district and if you have a roommate or not)

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc ...)
Taxi is the easiest way to go around the city or you can rent your own motorbike.

> food prices(per month, how much does it cost you?)
Sensitive issue here.  If you eat like a king, steak and lobster then you'll need more MONEY ($30000 a month).  If you eat like a middle class person then you only need $300-$500 a month.  Additionally, if you drink heavily then you'll need to add to my estimate above.

> prices of a good menu in a traditional restaurant
$3-100 USD.   Depends on where you go once again.  Sounds really repetitive but if you go to a 5 stars fine dinning restaurant then it will cost you an arm and a leg.  However, if you go to a quaint restaurant then it will cost you less.  Budget wisely.

> prices of a beer and or a coffee in a regular pub
$1-$6.  Why the vast difference?  If you go to a mom and pop street corner, then it will cost you less.  However, if you venture over to the Sky Bar (or so I have heard) they will charge $16 for a cocktail and $8 for a beer.  Yes that's right.

> price of the cinema
$2.50-$5 depends on the type of movie.  3-D?  Imax?  4-D?  5-D?

Hope that will help some of you out there.

-Tin Tin
PS - I do not live in VN just visit there many many many many times.

The only time we spent $100 in a restaurant here for four people it was small portions of lousy food with friends who live a high life they can't afford.  We went back to CT and had a 50,000 ₫ hotpot that was filling and much better.

Reminder: beer is not an essential nutrient.  If you can't visualize going out socially without alcohol, get sone help.  I haven't even heard of "going out drinking" since I was a teenager.

I write software.  I halved my hourly when I moved here.  Even so, in the USA I dipped into saving every month, here I save money.

Chris Fox,

I do agree with  you that for $100 USD you can definitely eat at a nice restaurant. 

I found this online as an example that you can clearly blow $100 USD for one meal (appetizer, entree, dessert not including drinks).

http://www.signaturesaigon.com/en/menus

What are your thoughts?  This is just one example of a nice fine dinning restaurant in HCMC.

Tin Tin

I like Ngon.  Food is great and even with nine people we didn't spend $100.

We prefer to go bình dân.

A cà phê đen can be as low as 4,000 ₫ in a rural area or ten times that in some upscale place.  I get a latté once in a while just for nostalgia. 

I don't drink alcohol but my friends tell me that the price can go from 7,000 to 20,000 just crossing the street, and people who get thợ wages will pay it.  I don't get that at all.

This has been great info. We have worked out 20mill a month should do us. But I will keep a tally of our monthly outgoings and compare it. Just over 2 months till arrive in Hoi an, Yeah Baby!

ancientpathos wrote:

Resurrection successful, new life in an old post. Now if I could only figure how to reverse the banning process...

Agreed.  We lost a good source of information from Nha Trang (and I am referring to Solo1). 

AP, you need to always put the "offtopic" emoticons in your posts whenever you stray away from the topic.  The moderators are very serious about offtopic posts (and sometimes they get reported by readers who don't like to read off-topic posts).

khanh44 wrote:

everyone seems to have a housekeeper. My fiance is strict on that absolutely not a chance having a housekeeper. She wants to do all the house chores.

Well guess we'll see if my 3 mil monthly budget on my fiance's 5 mil/mth salary can support us both. This will be in Bien Hoa btw and no house rental to pay.

It can.  I lived in Biên Hòa before.  I'll show you how when you arrive.   

wow I only spend less than $200/mth on food here in Calgary. And Calgary is considered one of the highest cost living cities in Canada. My mom visited me in Calgary and everywhere we go she says this is more expensive than Toronto.

In fact I tracked my expenses and last month my personal expenses not including expenses for my rental properties and my rent ($400/mth) was less than $200.

So yeah people are spending more in Vietnam than what I spend living in Calgary. Though my workplace is just a 15 minute walk away.

Don't know how much if any more I will be saving in Vietnam but one thing for sure is my quality of life will be vastly increased.

The vegetarian food here is not only incredibly delicious, it's incredibly cheap, and some of it is completely convincing as meat.  Two people, 12 or more flavors, green tea in bottles, under $3.

The biggest Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Calgary is where I do my grocery shopping. They've got food that taste like meat and fish. I gave some to my vegetarian friends and they got hooked.

Lol let me add something to the discussion. Any business transactions in VN usually involve two set of prices what is on display and what you can haggle down to! The price for hotel rooms are cheaper for those who can speak Vietnamese and cheaper still for  the locals. Even if you see the prices printed in the brochure be prepared to haggle it is in the culture. There are always 'discount'. For example, I ask my local friend to negotiate a hotel room for me and currently paying £6/week long term knowing others paying well over £40/week for a similar room. So is a case of what you know and also who you know!

Depends on your luxury it may be in between $250 - $1000 for 2 persons which including food, accommodation, fuel and some emergency medicines