Cost of Living inKathmandu, Nepal
Image credit: Vyacheslav Argenberg
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Nepal: $5,047/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 77% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
5.2 / 10
#91 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 Nepal; Kathmandu-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Limited public-school fit
Expat access
Possible, but a hard fit
hardInstruction
Nepali
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Nepal's public-school system can work for locally integrated families, but classroom quality and resources vary sharply and most expat households looking for predictability still lean private or international.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident enrollment can be possible, but Nepali-medium instruction and uneven school conditions make the public route a difficult match for most relocating families.
❓ Homeschooling
Not specifically addressedNepal does not have specific homeschooling regulations. Education is compulsory but alternatives are not well-defined. Some expat families homeschool in Kathmandu.
Homeschool legality in Nepal — 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 Kathmandu, Nepal.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$240-$360
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$360-$540
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Kathmandu: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
International airport
Tribhuvan is Nepal’s main international gateway, even if the route map is narrower than larger South Asian capitals.
Urban transit
Bus and microbus mix
Kathmandu relies on buses and microbuses rather than a structured rail or BRT backbone, so daily mobility is still fairly informal.
Rideshare
Pathao and taxi-first rides
App-hailed options like Pathao exist, but coverage is less dependable than in stronger Uber or Grab markets.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Nepal.
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
LimitedCoverage looks thinner, hospital capacity looks tighter, and households still pay a large share themselves weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedPublic coverage looks thinner, public funding looks lighter, and patients still shoulder a meaningful share of costs weigh on this rating.
Private care
LimitedA clearly private facility base help, but the tracked private-style network still looks thin and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
58/100
2023
Physicians
1.01/1k
2023
Hospital beds
0.54/1k
2023
Out of pocket
59%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
70.6 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
142/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
15.3/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedA visible private hospital base help, but price transparency is still sparse and headline outcomes are less reassuring.
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 Nepal 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 | — |
2017 annual wages in Kathmandu, Nepal · Source: ILO ILOSTAT (national)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival.
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 Kathmandu compared with the US?
Your money goes about 4.2x further in Kathmandu than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Kathmandu cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Kathmandu is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 77% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Kathmandu.
How does rent in Kathmandu compare with New York City?
Rent in Kathmandu is about 96% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Kathmandu?
Groceries in Kathmandu are about 76% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 82% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Kathmandu
Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal, a Himalayan-valley city of about 1.44 million sitting at roughly 1,400 meters in a bowl ringed by mountains, and the country's dominant political, commercial, and cultural hub. The economy combines tourism (anchored by trekking and mountaineering logistics), remittances, NGOs, and a growing IT-services sector serving foreign clients. Relocators should weigh a subtropical highland climate with mild temperatures year-round, English used widely in business and tourism alongside Nepali, and severe air-quality issues in winter when temperature inversions trap pollution in the valley. Infrastructure (roads, power, water) is unreliable, the international airport is a single congested runway, and a small but established expat community is concentrated in development work, remote roles, and the tourism industry.
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