Cost of Living in Samoa
Image credit: Tavita Togia, National Park Service
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Samoa: $7,686/capita.
Cities in Samoa
Income Category
GDP per Capita
Population
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 46% higher than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Child Education
Public-schooling rules are not sourced for Samoa yet. Country-level enrollment, instruction-language, and homeschool notes will appear here once verified.
Childcare & Domestic Help
Nanny, housekeeper, and driver pricing is not yet sourced for Samoa. We publish this section only when we can tie it to verified local samples or a clearly marked country fallback.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Samoa.
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
LimitedLow out-of-pocket burden help, but coverage looks thinner and doctor staffing is lighter.
Public care
LimitedRelatively low patient cost-sharing help, but public coverage looks thinner and country-level outcomes are weaker.
Private care
LimitedThe tracked private-style network still looks thin and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
UHC coverage
62/100
2023
Physicians
0.56/1k
2021
Hospital beds
0.95/1k
2005
Out of pocket
13%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
71.8 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
101/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
5.8/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedPrice transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
Pricing transparency
LimitedPublished self-pay prices are scarce and few facilities expose web pages we can verify weigh on this rating.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Samoa 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 | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2022 annual wages in Samoa · Source: ILO ILOSTAT
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival.
About Samoa
Samoa is an upper-middle-income Pacific island country where relocation decisions usually come down to tolerance for island infrastructure trade-offs. Apia is the practical base for most newcomers, with Samoan and English as official languages and everyday costs documented as budget-friendly at roughly $800-1,700 per month, putting it on the affordable side for the East Asia & Pacific region. The visa setup is relatively workable, including a 60-day visa on arrival and a retirement visa, but it is not a friction-free digital-nomad package. Healthcare is basic, with serious cases requiring evacuation to New Zealand or Australia, and urban internet speeds of about 5-15 Mbps can make bandwidth-heavy work frustrating. The tropical climate stays around 25-31°C year-round; May to September is easier, while November to April brings cyclone risk.
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Common questions about Samoa
Sourced from SortaRich's public-data ranking engine — every figure links to its institutional source.
How much does it cost to live in Samoa?
The cost of living in Samoa is about 46% more expensive than the global benchmark (New York City), with an overall cost-of-living index of 146. 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 Samoa?
$1 goes about 1.6x further in Samoa than in the baseline market — your home-country income stretches that much more (current PPP ratio: 1.61). 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 Samoa?
To move to Samoa you have these visa options: Tourist entry: visa_on_arrival. 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 Samoa?
The best cities to live in Samoa are Apia — 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