Compare real, published monthly budgets across 30 Thai cities and islands — pick a tier, tick a few cities, and see the THB ranges side by side. Every number links back to that city's own full cost-of-living guide.
Couple
Couple
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Figures are pulled directly from each city's own published cost-of-living guide — see the link on each city page for the full monthly breakdown, sources and caveats. Orientation only, not a quote.
This tool compares whole cities. If Bangkok is on your shortlist, the district-level calculator itemises rent, utilities, food, transport and optional add-ons by neighbourhood — useful once you've narrowed things down to a city and want a precise number for a specific home and lifestyle.
Pick a budget tier — lean/solo, comfortable/couple, or premium/family — then check the boxes for any Thai cities you want to compare, up to six at a time. The tool shows each city's real published monthly THB range for that tier side by side, sorted from cheapest to priciest, with a bar showing the relative gap between cities. Nothing is estimated on this page itself — every number is pulled from that city's own cost-of-living guide, linked under each result.
Every figure comes directly from BAANLYY's own city-by-city cost-of-living guides (for example /thailand/chiang-mai/cost-of-living), which itemise rent, food, transport, utilities and insurance for that specific city. This tool does not introduce new estimates — it simply reads the same published budget tiers and lines them up across cities so you can compare at a glance. If a city hasn't published a figure for a given tier yet, it is shown as unavailable rather than guessed at.
The Bangkok tool at /tools/cost-of-living is a district-level calculator: pick a Bangkok neighbourhood, home size and lifestyle and it itemises a precise monthly budget within that one city. This tool is the opposite zoom level — it compares whole cities against each other across Thailand, so you can shortlist which city fits your budget before drilling into district-level detail for that one city.
Thirty cities and islands are covered at launch, from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui through to smaller provincial hubs like Buriram, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Ubon Ratchathani. Coverage expands as more city cost-of-living guides are published — each city page links back into this tool so you can add it to a comparison.
No — treat every range as an orientation band, not a quote. Actual spending depends on the specific building, your exact lifestyle, insurance plan and the baht exchange rate on the day. Use this tool to shortlist two or three realistic cities, then read that city's full cost-of-living guide and, for Bangkok, the district-level calculator, before you commit to a budget.
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Once you know which city fits your budget, match it to the right neighbourhood and home.