Cost of Living inDhaka, Bangladesh
Image credit: Zubuyer Kaolin
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Bangladesh: $8,487/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 75% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
3.9 / 10
#127 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Monthly Costs
Rent
Food
Transport
Utilities
Education
Child Education
Public-school quality + expat access, alongside international and private school cost — the two paths a relocating family weighs.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for Bangladesh; Dhaka-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Limited public-school fit
Expat access
Possible, but a hard fit for expats
hardInstruction
Bangla
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Bangladesh has a large public system with meaningful variation between urban and rural schools. Dhaka has far stronger private and international options than the state system for families wanting predictable English-friendly schooling.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident foreign families may be able to enroll, but Bangla-medium instruction and uneven infrastructure make the public route difficult for most internationally mobile households.
❓ Homeschooling
Not specifically regulatedBangladesh requires compulsory primary education but does not have a specific homeschooling framework. Many expat families in Dhaka homeschool through accredited foreign programs without interference. No formal registration or approval process exists.
Homeschool legality in Bangladesh — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$180-$275
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$300-$450
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Dhaka: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
International airport
Hazrat Shahjalal International is Bangladesh’s main air gateway and anchors Dhaka’s domestic and international connectivity.
Urban transit
Metro and bus
Dhaka now has a genuine rail element through the metro, with buses still doing much of the citywide coverage beyond the core corridor.
Rideshare
Uber and app rides available
Uber and local app-hailed rides are a practical fallback for airport trips and gaps outside the metro spine.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Bangladesh.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
LimitedCoverage looks thinner, doctor staffing is lighter, and hospital capacity looks tighter weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedPublic coverage looks thinner, public funding looks lighter, and patients still shoulder a meaningful share of costs weigh on this rating.
Private care
LimitedThe tracked private-style network still looks thin and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
UHC coverage
54/100
2023
Physicians
0.72/1k
2023
Hospital beds
0.92/1k
2023
Out of pocket
79%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
74.9 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
115/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
17.9/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedPrice transparency is still sparse and headline outcomes are less reassuring weigh on this rating.
Pricing transparency
LimitedPublished self-pay prices are scarce and few facilities expose web pages we can verify weigh on this rating.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Bangladesh yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Support Services | — |
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Real Estate | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2024 annual wages in Dhaka, Bangladesh · Source: BBS (region-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival.
Quick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in Dhaka compared with the US?
Your money goes about 4.2x further in Dhaka than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Dhaka cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Dhaka is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 75% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Dhaka.
How does rent in Dhaka compare with New York City?
Rent in Dhaka is about 96% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Dhaka?
Groceries in Dhaka are about 70% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 80% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with roughly 10 million residents in the city proper and over 22 million across the broader metropolitan area on the Buriganga River. The city anchors the global ready-made garment industry that drives Bangladeshi exports and hosts the country's parliament, central bank, and most universities. Relocators are predominantly diplomatic, development, or garment-sector professionals concentrated in Gulshan, Banani, and Baridhara, where international schooling and expat housing cluster. Practical constraints include severe traffic congestion that routinely ranks among the world's worst, monsoon flooding from June through September, hazardous winter air quality, and a hot humid climate that runs from March through October.
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