Cost of Living in Iran
Image credit: Apanj
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Iran: $17,484/capita.
Cities in Iran
Income Category
Happiness
4.9 / 10
#98 globally
GDP per Capita
Population
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 77% 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 Iran.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Usually not practical for expats
not practicalInstruction
Persian
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Iran's public system is structured for local families, but it is not an easy public-school choice for relocating expat households.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Even where resident enrollment is possible, Persian-medium instruction and day-to-day local integration make the public route usually impractical for foreign families.
🚫 Homeschooling
Homeschooling not permittedIran requires compulsory school attendance and does not permit homeschooling. Education is heavily regulated by the Ministry of Education with a mandatory national curriculum. No exemptions for homeschooling on philosophical or lifestyle grounds.
Homeschool legality in Iran — 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 Iran.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$350-$550
1 tracked city, not a national average
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$650-$925
1 tracked city, not a national average
Source: curated family relocation research
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Iran.
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
MixedGood national coverage and maternal mortality is low help, but households still pay a large share themselves.
Public care
MixedBroad public coverage and a visible public hospital footprint help, but patients still shoulder a meaningful share of costs.
Private care
GoodA large tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
81/100
2023
Physicians
1.81/1k
2023
Hospital beds
1.85/1k
2019
Out of pocket
43%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
77.9 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
16/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
7.2/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but 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
These prices come only from published provider pages we could verify directly. Missing prices usually mean low transparency, not necessarily missing care.
Healthy aging
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 Iran · Source: GDP-derived estimate
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders need advance travel authorization or a visa before entry.
About Iran
Iran is an upper-middle-income country of 91,567,738 people, with Tehran as its capital and the main reference point for most relocation planning. Living costs sit at the extremely low end for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region, but the low price level is not the main thing to optimize for. Persian (Farsi) is the official language, Western nationals can face very restrictive visa access, and day-to-day internet use is constrained by heavy censorship, slow speeds, and VPN restrictions. Safety varies by location and can range from moderate to high risk, while healthcare quality is limited and infrastructure is poor in many areas. Much of the country is hot and arid, so Iran is a practical fit only for relocators who can handle serious administrative, digital, and risk tradeoffs.
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Common questions about Iran
Sourced from SortaRich's public-data ranking engine — every figure links to its institutional source.
Is Iran a good country to live in?
Iran is a lower-rated country to live in per the World Happiness Report (4.9 of 10, ranking #98 globally). Whether it's right for you depends on your priorities — use SortaRich's free quiz to see how Iran ranks for your specific income, family, and visa profile.
Sources: World Happiness Report, SortaRich Methodology
How much does it cost to live in Iran?
The cost of living in Iran is about 77% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), with an overall cost-of-living index of 23. 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 Iran?
$1 goes about 14.4x further in Iran than in the baseline market — your home-country income stretches that much more (current PPP ratio: 14.41). 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 Iran?
To move to Iran you have these visa options: Tourist entry: visa_required. 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 Iran?
The best cities to live in Iran are Tehran — 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