Cost of Living inTehran, Iran
Image credit: Amir1140 at English Wikipedia
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Iran: $17,484/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 77% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
4.9 / 10
#98 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 Iran; Tehran-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
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)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Tehran, Iran.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$350-$550
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$650-$925
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Tehran: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
International airport
Imam Khomeini and Mehrabad together give Tehran the country’s main long-haul and domestic air gateway, even if sanctions constrain the route map versus larger regional hubs.
Urban transit
Metro, BRT, and bus
Tehran has a real high-capacity mobility backbone through the metro and BRT network, with buses filling in practical cross-city gaps.
Rideshare
Snapp available
Snapp and similar app-hailed rides are a practical fallback for airport trips and neighborhoods beyond the strongest metro and BRT corridors.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
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
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Iran 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 Tehran, Iran · Source: GDP-derived estimate (national)
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 Tehran compared with the US?
Your money goes about 14.6x further in Tehran than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Tehran cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Tehran is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 77% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Tehran.
How does rent in Tehran compare with New York City?
Rent in Tehran is about 90% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Tehran?
Groceries in Tehran are about 77% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 84% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Tehran
Tehran is the capital of Iran and the political, financial, and cultural center of the country, with about 7.2 million residents in the city proper and over 13 million across the metropolitan region at the foot of the Alborz Mountains at roughly 1,200 meters elevation. The city offers ski resorts within an hour's drive, an extensive and inexpensive metro network, and a temperate semi-arid climate with cold winters and hot dry summers. Relocation considerations are dominated by sanctions that complicate international banking and visa logistics, with foreign communities limited primarily to diplomatic, journalism, and academic missions. Air quality is hazardous on stagnant winter days due to terrain-trapped emissions, and Persian fluency is effectively required for daily life.
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