How Far Your Dollar Goes Abroad

A dollar changed into pesos, euros or baht does not buy the same amount everywhere. Haircuts, groceries, rent and restaurant meals cost far less in some countries than in the United States, and more in a few. This calculator uses the World Bank's price comparisons, which price the same household purchases in every country, to show what your money is really worth abroad. All figures are for 2025 unless a country is marked otherwise.

01The Calculator

02The World Map of Prices

Blue countries are cheaper than the United States, so a dollar goes further there; orange countries cost more. Tap or hover over a country for its figures, and click it to load it into the calculator.

Price level of household purchases, United States = 100, at average exchange rates, using each economy's latest World Bank year (2025 for 157 of 198; the year shows in the pop-up when it is older). Grey: no World Bank figure, or a country with several official exchange rates (left out because the official rate is not what people pay). Small countries are too small to show on a world map and are listed in the table below.

03Where $1,000 Goes Furthest, and Where It Goes Least Far

What $1,000 spent in each country buys, measured in what the same things cost in the United States. Older figures are marked with their year.

04Popular Places to Move or Retire

Countries Americans often look at for retirement or a move abroad. Click a column heading to sort. The last column compares each country's price level with ten years earlier; a fall means it has become cheaper for Americans. Changes reflect both exchange rates and differences in inflation compared with the United States.

05How Your Dollar's Reach Has Changed

The price level of the country selected in the calculator, every year since 2000, against the United States at 100. A line that falls means that country got cheaper for Americans.

06Every Country

07How This Works, and What It Leaves Out

The numbers. The World Bank's International Comparison Program prices the same goods and services in nearly every country, from bread and bus fares to rent and doctor visits, and turns the results into purchasing power parity rates: how many units of each currency buy what one dollar buys in the United States. Dividing that rate by the actual exchange rate gives the price level used here. A price level of 60 means the household purchases that cost $100 in the US cost the equivalent of $60 there, so $1,000 spent there goes as far as about $1,667 would at home. Recent years are estimates the World Bank extends from its latest full price survey.

Two calculations. The first takes dollars changed into local money and asks what they would buy at home prices. The second, estimated equivalent household spending, runs the other direction: what spending of a given amount at home corresponds to there, in dollars and in local currency at the year's average exchange rate. Both are averages across a typical household basket, not a budget for a particular city or lifestyle. Amounts are always in US dollars, even when you compare with another home country.

Different years. The World Bank's latest year is 2025 for most economies and older for some. When two countries' latest years differ, the calculator compares them at the latest year both have, and says so. Headline figures at the top use 2025 figures only.

What it leaves out.

• These are national averages. Capital cities and the neighborhoods foreigners favor usually cost more than the national figure; small towns cost less.
• The basket is what local households buy. Imported goods, international schools, private health insurance and imported cars often cost as much as at home or more.
• Exchange rates move every day. The figures use the average rate for the year, so a currency that has moved sharply since will change the answer.
• Taxes, visas, residency rules, health care access and the cost of flights home are not included.
• Countries with several official exchange rates (Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Myanmar, North Korea and Cuba) are left out, because the official rate is not what people pay and the result would mislead.

This is an estimate for planning and curiosity, not financial advice. Check current prices for the city you have in mind before making a decision.

08Sources

• World Bank, World Development Indicators: PPP conversion factor, private consumption (PA.NUS.PRVT.PP) and official exchange rate, period average (PA.NUS.FCRF)
• World Bank, International Comparison Program

Figures checked against the World Bank on October 31, 2026; the calculator updates itself when the World Bank publishes new figures. Related: Road Trip Gas Cost Calculator · Social Security Calculator · all Financial Tools