Tools · Budget calculator

Can you afford it?

Tell us what lands in your account each month. We will set it against the four costs our city guides can actually source, rent, a desk, weekday lunches and getting around, and show you what is left for everything else.

Ho Chi Minh City, a month

£472 to £1,220 for the basics.

Add your take-home pay above to see what is left.

RentOne-bed, District 3, Binh Thanh and District 1, from one blog. Thao Dien runs to VND 47 million. VND 13,000,000 to 34,000,000
£378 to £988
A deskCoworking monthly membership. VND 1,500,000 to 4,000,000
£44 to £116
Weekday lunchesCom tam, the broken-rice lunch, VND 50,000 to 100,000 each, 22 working days
£32 to £64
Getting aroundGrab motorbike at VND 15,000 to 40,000 a ride in the centre, two rides each working day: our estimate over 22 working days. A metro monthly pass is VND 300,000, but Line 1 is a single route. VND 660,000 to 1,760,000
£19 to £51

Vietnam has no remote work visa. Check your own case

The Ho Chi Minh City guideCompare every city

What is counted. Four costs, and only four, because they are the ones every guide can source: rent, a desk, a lunch on each of 22 working days, and getting around. Food shopping, bills, a phone, insurance, tax and evenings out are not in it, which is why the answer is what is left for everything else, not what is left to save.

Where the figures come from. Each city's guide, checked against official statistics, the operators' own price pages and dated listings. Each line says what it is. Where a guide only publishes rent per square metre, the line says what size flat it assumes. Last copied from the guides on 3 October 2026.

The exchange rates. The same daily feed as the visa checker, from ExchangeRate-API, last updated 20 October 2026. Pesos are converted at the official rate.