Cost of Living inAstana, Kazakhstan
Image credit: K Zhestovskaya
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Kazakhstan: $35,974/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 68% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
6.2 / 10
#48 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
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 Kazakhstan; Astana-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Mixed public schools
Expat access
Possible, but language-heavy
hardInstruction
Kazakh / Russian
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Kazakhstan has a functioning state-school system with stronger options in Almaty and Astana than in smaller cities. Academic expectations can be solid, but the public route remains language-heavy and not especially tailored to expat families.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident families can often enroll, but Kazakh- and Russian-medium instruction makes the public path harder for most foreign families unless they plan deeper local integration.
📋 Homeschooling
Legal with school supervisionKazakhstan's Law on Education (2007, amended) allows home-based learning with school supervision. Students must be registered with a school and take assessments. Increasingly popular among Almaty and Nur-Sultan expats.
Homeschool legality in Kazakhstan — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Estimate-only country fallback for the family-support costs we track in Kazakhstan.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$675-$925
Estimate-only country fallback
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$1,250-$1,650
Estimate-only country fallback
Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)
Getting Around
Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Astana is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Kazakhstan.
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
StrongGood national coverage, strong doctor availability, and solid hospital-bed capacity support this rating.
Public care
GoodBroad public coverage and a visible public hospital footprint support this rating.
Private care
MixedA meaningful tracked hospital and clinic network help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
83/100
2023
Physicians
3.75/1k
2023
Hospital beds
6.54/1k
2020
Out of pocket
28%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
74.5 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
10/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
3.9/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedMultiple facilities have websites and there is visible specialty depth 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 Kazakhstan 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 | — |
2022 annual wages in Astana, Kazakhstan · Source: stat.gov.kz (region-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can stay up to 30 days without a visa.
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 Astana compared with the US?
Your money goes about 2.7x further in Astana than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Astana cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Astana is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 68% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Astana.
How does rent in Astana compare with New York City?
Rent in Astana is about 88% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Astana?
Groceries in Astana are about 67% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 66% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Astana
Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan, on the Ishim River in the country's northern steppe, renamed from Akmola in 1998 when President Nazarbayev moved the capital from Almaty and briefly renamed Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022 before reverting. As the national administrative center it concentrates government, embassies, and state-owned enterprises, with a planned architectural showcase by Kisho Kurokawa and Norman Foster anchoring the left bank. The economy mixes government, finance through the Astana International Financial Centre, construction, and oil-and-gas headquarters operations. Kazakh and Russian are both working languages. The climate is sharply continental, ranked among the world's coldest capitals, with very cold dry winters routinely below minus 25C and short hot summers. Relocation drivers are largely government and corporate-headquarters employment, with newer housing stock and a metro under development.
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