Cost of Living inPatna, Bihar, India
Image credit: Thomas Daniell
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). India: $9,818/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 81% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
4.0 / 10
#124 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Monthly Costs
Rent
Food
Transport
Utilities
Education
Child Education
Public-school quality, expat access, instruction language, and homeschool legality for relocating families.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for India; Patna, Bihar-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Possible, not easy for expats
hardInstruction
Hindi / English / regional languages
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
India's public-school picture is highly uneven by state and city, with some usable local options but no single predictable expat path.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident enrollment is possible, but the public route is often state-language heavy and quality varies too much for most expat families to treat it as the default.
✅ Homeschooling
Legal, constitutionally protectedIndia's Right to Education Act focuses on government providing education but does not mandate school attendance. The Supreme Court has upheld parents' right to homeschool. Growing community across major cities. NIOS provides equivalency exams.
Homeschool legality in India — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Childcare & Domestic Help
Estimate-only country fallback for the family-support costs we track in India.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$230-$520
Estimate-only country fallback
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$250-$560
Estimate-only country fallback
Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)
Getting Around
Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Patna, Bihar is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in India.
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
LimitedDoctor staffing is lighter, households still pay a large share themselves, and newborn outcomes are weaker weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedA visible public hospital footprint help, but public funding looks lighter and patients still shoulder a meaningful share of costs.
Private care
GoodA meaningful tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
69/100
2023
Physicians
0.72/1k
2020
Hospital beds
1.59/1k
2021
Out of pocket
44%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
72.2 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
80/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
16.7/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse and headline outcomes are less reassuring.
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 India 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 Patna, Bihar, India · Source: PLFS (state-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders need advance travel authorization or a visa before entry.
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 Patna compared with the US?
Your money goes about 9.1x further in Patna than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Patna cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Patna is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 81% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Patna.
How does rent in Patna compare with New York City?
Rent in Patna is about 98% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Patna?
Groceries in Patna are about 80% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 85% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Patna, Bihar
Patna is the capital of Bihar in eastern India, an ancient Gangetic city of about 1.68 million that traces continuous urban history back over two millennia to Pataliputra. It is the administrative and educational center of one of India's poorest and most populous states, and the local economy mixes government, agriculture, and a growing private healthcare sector. For relocators it is rarely a direct destination — international flight connectivity is limited, summers on the Gangetic plain are brutally hot and humid, and air quality during winter ranks among the worst in the country. Hindi and Bhojpuri dominate daily life, English works in white-collar settings, and most foreign residents are tied to development organizations or government partnerships.
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