Cost of Living inMukalla, Yemen
Image credit: NASA Astronauts
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Yemen: $433/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 47% 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
3.6 / 10
#131 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 Yemen; Mukalla-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Limited public-school fit
Expat access
Usually not practical for expats
not practicalInstruction
Arabic
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Yemen's public-school path is not a realistic default for expat families under current conditions.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Even where enrollment is possible, Arabic-medium instruction and ongoing system disruption make the public route usually impractical for expat families.
❓ Homeschooling
Not specifically addressedYemen has compulsory education laws but the ongoing conflict has severely disrupted the education system. No formal homeschooling framework exists. Not a practical destination for worldschooling families.
Homeschool legality in Yemen — 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 Yemen.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$225-$325
Estimate-only country fallback
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$350-$550
Estimate-only country fallback
Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)
Getting Around
Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Mukalla is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Yemen.
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, doctor staffing is lighter, and hospital capacity looks tighter weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedA visible public hospital footprint help, but public coverage looks thinner and public funding looks lighter.
Private care
LimitedThe tracked private-style network still looks thin, the private footprint is not very visible yet, and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
UHC coverage
43/100
2023
Physicians
0.10/1k
2023
Hospital beds
0.46/1k
2023
Out of pocket
69%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
69.4 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
118/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
20.9/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedThe private footprint is still thin, price transparency is still sparse, and headline outcomes are less reassuring 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 Yemen 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 |
|---|---|
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
2014 annual wages in Mukalla, Yemen · Source: ILO ILOSTAT (sector aggregate) (national)
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 Mukalla compared with the US?
Your money goes about 2.5x further in Mukalla than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate. We are using the country-level cost index for Yemen here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
Is Mukalla cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Mukalla is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 47% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Mukalla. We are using the country-level cost index for Yemen here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How does rent in Mukalla compare with New York City?
Rent in Mukalla is about 94% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City). We are using the country-level cost index for Yemen here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Mukalla?
Groceries in Mukalla are about 35% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 62% cheaper than the same benchmark. We are using the country-level cost index for Yemen here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
About Mukalla
Mukalla is the principal port city of Yemen's Hadhramaut governorate, a coastal town of roughly 595,000 on the Gulf of Aden in the country's southeast, historically the commercial gateway for the Hadhrami diaspora that spread across the Indian Ocean trading world. The economy combines fishing, modest oil-related logistics for nearby Masila fields, the small port, and substantial remittance flows from Hadhrami expatriate communities in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Gulf states. The climate is hot desert moderated by sea breezes, with year-round high temperatures and very low rainfall. Arabic is the working language and English is concentrated in oil-services circles. Relocators must weigh the defining constraint: Yemen's ongoing civil war and humanitarian crisis make the country effectively closed to standard relocation. The city has seen periods of AQAP control and active conflict. Western governments maintain do-not-travel advisories, and consular services are largely unavailable.
See the full breakdown — free
No password needed. Takes ~30 seconds.