Cost of Living in Cuba
Image credit: Jorge Royan
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Cuba: $9,605/capita.
Cities in Cuba
Income Category
GDP per Capita
Population
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 58% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Child Education
Public-school quality, expat access, instruction language, and homeschool legality for relocating families.
Public schools
How realistic the local public-school path is for a relocating family in Cuba.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Possible, but highly localized
hardInstruction
Spanish
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Cuba has a universal public-school system, but it is not usually the default schooling path for internationally mobile expat families.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident enrollment may be possible, but Spanish-medium instruction and a strongly local system make the public route a hard fit for most expat families.
🚫 Homeschooling
Homeschooling not legalCuba requires compulsory school attendance in state schools. Homeschooling is not legally permitted. Education is a state function under the Cuban constitution. This is the single biggest barrier for families considering Cuba as a long-term base.
Homeschool legality in Cuba — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current city samples for the family-support costs we track in Cuba.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$250-$400
1 tracked city, not a national average
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$450-$650
1 tracked city, not a national average
Source: curated family relocation research
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Cuba.
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
StrongHigh national coverage, strong doctor availability, and solid hospital-bed capacity support this rating.
Public care
StrongBroad public coverage, strong public funding, and relatively low patient cost-sharing support this rating.
Private care
MixedA large tracked hospital and clinic network help, but the private footprint is not very visible yet and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
86/100
2023
Physicians
9.54/1k
2021
Hospital beds
4.33/1k
2023
Out of pocket
17%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
78.3 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
35/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
4.3/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedMultiple facilities have websites and there is visible specialty depth help, but the private footprint is still thin and price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Cuba 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 |
|---|---|
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2010 annual wages in Cuba · Source: ILO ILOSTAT
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders need advance travel authorization or a visa before entry.
About Cuba
Cuba is an upper middle income Caribbean country where Havana anchors daily life for many foreigners, but the very low headline cost should be weighed against real operating friction. A basic comfortable month in Havana is documented around $500-800 USD, well below most developed-country budgets and likely low within Latin America and the Caribbean, yet consumer availability, medicine access, and internet reliability can shape the lifestyle more than rent does. Spanish is the official language, so relocation without it is limiting outside tourist settings. The climate is tropical, warm year-round around 75-85°F, with hurricane season from June to November. Safety is moderate: violent crime is relatively low, but petty theft, scams, and political discussions require care. Visa friendliness is low, especially for US citizens, with tourist-card rules and difficult residency.
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Common questions about Cuba
Sourced from SortaRich's public-data ranking engine — every figure links to its institutional source.
How much does it cost to live in Cuba?
The cost of living in Cuba is about 58% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), with an overall cost-of-living index of 42. SortaRich personalizes these numbers to your home city's purchasing power so the comparison is real, not nominal.
Sources: SortaRich Cost of Living, World Bank ICP 2021
How far does $1 go in Cuba?
$1 goes about 1.6x further in Cuba than in the baseline market — your home-country income stretches that much more (current PPP ratio: 1.65). The figure adjusts every year as exchange rates and local prices shift. SortaRich uses World Bank ICP 2021 as the anchor and Penn World Tables 11.0 for cross-validation.
Sources: World Bank ICP 2021, Penn World Tables 11.0
What visa do I need to move to Cuba?
To move to Cuba you have these visa options: Tourist entry: evisa. Visa rules change frequently — confirm the current terms with the official immigration authority before booking flights.
Source: SortaRich Visa Database
What are the best cities to live in Cuba?
The best cities to live in Cuba are Havana — those are the most-searched options among the 1 cities profiled in the SortaRich database. Each city page includes a personalized PPP comparison versus your home city plus subnational price data where available.
Source: SortaRich City Index