Cost of Living inAnkara, Turkey
Image credit: Murray Foubister
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Turkey: $36,154/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 60% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
5.0 / 10
#96 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 Turkey; Ankara-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Possible, not easy for expats
hardInstruction
Turkish
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Turkey's public schools can work for local families, but expat fit is weaker and the public path is not usually the obvious choice when alternatives exist.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident enrollment is possible, but Turkish-medium instruction and uneven school quality make the public route hard for most foreign families.
🚫 Homeschooling
Homeschooling not legalTurkey requires compulsory school attendance. Homeschooling is not permitted under current law. Foreign residents are technically subject to the same rules, though enforcement varies for non-citizens.
Homeschool legality in Turkey — 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 Turkey.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$525-$1,000
Estimate-only country fallback
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$950-$1,750
Estimate-only country fallback
Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)
Getting Around
Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Ankara is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Turkey.
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, solid hospital-bed capacity, and maternal mortality is low support this rating.
Public care
GoodStrong public funding, relatively low patient cost-sharing, and a visible public hospital footprint support this rating.
Private care
MixedSelf-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
UHC coverage
77/100
2023
Physicians
2.24/1k
2022
Hospital beds
3.05/1k
2023
Out of pocket
19%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
77.4 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
15/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
4.6/1k
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 Turkey 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 Ankara, Turkey · Source: TurkStat (region-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can enter without a visa.
Long-Term Visa Programs
investment
Turkey Citizenship by InvestmentQuick 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 Ankara compared with the US?
Your money goes about 4.3x further in Ankara than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Ankara cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Ankara is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 60% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Ankara.
How does rent in Ankara compare with New York City?
Rent in Ankara is about 85% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Ankara?
Groceries in Ankara are about 59% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 59% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Ankara
Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city, an inland plateau metropolis chosen over Istanbul for its administrative role since 1923. Relocators trade Istanbul's coastal humidity and chaotic geography for a drier, colder climate at roughly 900 meters elevation, plus a more orderly grid of government districts, embassies, and Bilkent-anchored university zones. Rents and groceries run noticeably below Istanbul, which matters as the lira keeps repricing. The Ankaray and Metro lines cover the central corridors but car dependence rises quickly in outer neighborhoods like Cankaya and Yenimahalle. English fluency is thinner than in Istanbul, so functional Turkish accelerates daily life. Suitable for civil-service, defense-industry, or academic postings rather than tourism-driven income.
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