Cost of Living in French Polynesia
Image credit: makemake at de.wikipedia
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). French Polynesia: $22,440/capita.
Cities in French Polynesia
Income Category
GDP per Capita
Population
Child Education
Public-schooling rules are not sourced for French Polynesia yet. Country-level enrollment, instruction-language, and homeschool notes will appear here once verified.
Childcare & Domestic Help
Nanny, housekeeper, and driver pricing is not yet sourced for French Polynesia. We publish this section only when we can tie it to verified local samples or a clearly marked country fallback.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in French Polynesia.
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
MixedLow out-of-pocket burden and life expectancy is high help, but coverage looks thinner and hospital capacity looks tighter.
Public care
LimitedRelatively low patient cost-sharing and a visible public hospital footprint help, but public coverage looks thinner and public funding looks lighter.
Private care
MixedA clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
0/100
2025
Physicians
1.70/1k
2000
Hospital beds
0.00/1k
2025
Out of pocket
0%
2025
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
84.2 yrs
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base help, but price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedPublished self-pay prices are scarce weigh on this rating.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in French Polynesia 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
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 French Polynesia · Source: Territory estimate (parent: FR)
About French Polynesia
French Polynesia is a high-income territory centered on Papeete, where French is the official language and Tahitian remains widely spoken. For relocators, the headline issue is cost: staples run about 50-70% above mainland France and housing is extremely limited, so the budget case has to be settled before the lifestyle case. Safety is a real advantage, with exceptionally low violent crime and very safe day-to-day conditions, but access is narrow for non-EU citizens because work or residence permits typically need employer sponsorship; EU citizens get 90 days visa-free. Papeete has high-quality healthcare and fast fiber internet up to 1Gbps, while outer islands can mean limited rural medical coverage and slower, more expensive connectivity. The tropical climate is year-round, with cyclone season from November to April.
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Common questions about French Polynesia
Sourced from SortaRich's public-data ranking engine — every figure links to its institutional source.
How far does $1 go in French Polynesia?
$1 goes about 1.3x further in French Polynesia than in the baseline market — your home-country income stretches that much more (current PPP ratio: 1.26). 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 are the best cities to live in French Polynesia?
The best cities to live in French Polynesia are Papeete — 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