Cost of Living inCần Thơ, Vietnam
Image credit: Franzfoto
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Vietnam: $14,415/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 74% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Using the country-level NYC comparison for now. We do not have a defensible city-level aggregate cost index for this city yet.
Income Category
Happiness
6.0 / 10
#53 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Child Education
Public-school quality, expat access, instruction language, and homeschool legality for relocating families.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for Vietnam; Cần Thơ-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Limited public-school fit
Expat access
Possible, rarely the expat path
hardInstruction
Vietnamese
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Vietnam's public system is built for local families and is not the route most expat households choose when they have other options.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident access can exist, but Vietnamese-medium instruction and a strongly local school culture make the public route a hard fit for most foreign families.
❓ Homeschooling
Not explicitly addressedVietnamese law requires school attendance for citizens, but there is no explicit prohibition or framework for homeschooling. Expat families often homeschool without interference. Vietnamese citizens face more scrutiny. No legal framework exists.
Homeschool legality in Vietnam — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Childcare & Domestic Help
Estimate-only country fallback for the family-support costs we track in Vietnam.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$280-$680
Estimate-only country fallback
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$490-$1,150
Estimate-only country fallback
Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)
Getting Around
Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Cần Thơ is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Vietnam.
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
LimitedThis is a broad country-level read based on coverage, staffing, beds, and spending.
Public care
LimitedPublic funding looks lighter and patients still shoulder a meaningful share of costs weigh on this rating.
Private care
LimitedThe tracked private-style network still looks thin and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
UHC coverage
71/100
2023
Physicians
1.11/1k
2021
Hospital beds
2.52/1k
2017
Out of pocket
39%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
74.7 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
48/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
8.8/1k
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 Vietnam 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 Cần Thơ, Vietnam · Source: GSO (region-adjusted)
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 Cần Thơ compared with the US?
Your money goes about 3.6x further in Cần Thơ than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate. We are using the country-level cost index for Vietnam here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
Is Cần Thơ cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Cần Thơ is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 74% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Cần Thơ. We are using the country-level cost index for Vietnam here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How does rent in Cần Thơ compare with New York City?
Rent in Cần Thơ is about 90% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City). We are using the country-level cost index for Vietnam here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Cần Thơ?
Groceries in Cần Thơ are about 68% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 84% cheaper than the same benchmark. We are using the country-level cost index for Vietnam here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
About Cần Thơ
Can Tho is the largest city in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, a riverside metropolis of about 1.51 million that serves as the regional hub for rice and aquaculture trade, agricultural processing, and delta logistics. It sits on the Hau River roughly 170 km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, with a flat, low-lying geography that makes climate change and saltwater intrusion meaningful long-term concerns. Relocators should weigh a tropical monsoon climate with hot, humid weather year-round and a sharply wet May-November rainy season, Vietnamese-dominant daily life with limited English outside hotels and universities, and a small foreign community largely tied to agriculture, NGOs, and language teaching. A new international airport and recent expressway links shorten the trip to Saigon to roughly three hours.
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