Purchasing Power Parity · Iran
Cost of living in 🇮🇷 Iran vs the United States
Iran has a US-relative price level of 0.271 (US = 1.0) — about 73% cheaper than the United States. Reference year 2023.
What US salaries are worth in Iran
| US income | Feels like (US-equivalent) | Cost of a US lifestyle |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $184,502 | $13,550 |
| $80,000 | $295,203 | $21,680 |
| $120,000 | $442,804 | $32,520 |
| $180,000 | $664,207 | $48,780 |
| $250,000 | $922,509 | $67,750 |
“Feels like” = income ÷ price level; “cost of a US lifestyle” = income × price level. Try your own number in the interactive calculator.
How the sources compare
Each provider measures Iran's price level slightly differently; a tight spread means high confidence.
These sources disagree — the figure above is the Penn World Table figure alone, decided by a person, not a blend.
Exchange regime: multiple rates. The World Bank official rate (PA.NUS.FCRF) is exactly 42,000 rial per dollar for every year 2019-2023 while the open market passed 810,000 (April 2025) and one million (March 2025); an official 280,000 rate applies only to staples and medicine. Dividing a PPP factor that tripled by a frozen denominator makes Iran read as 125% dearer than the United States. Penn World Table (0.271) handles the rate independently and is the only credible vote.
Checked 2026-09-09 against the sources named in the register.
Cost of living around the world
Every country shaded by its price level relative to the US (darker = more expensive). Iran is outlined.
Countries with a similar cost of living
- 🇧🇾 Belarus — price level 0.274
- 🇧🇩 Bangladesh — price level 0.267
- 🇬🇲 Gambia — price level 0.266
- 🇧🇮 Burundi — price level 0.264
- 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan — price level 0.264
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Frequently asked questions
- How expensive is Iran compared to the United States?
- Iran has a price level of 0.271 relative to the US baseline of 1.0 (about 73% cheaper than the United States), based on the Penn World Table figure alone — the sources disagree and a curated exchange-regime register names the one to believe, reference year 2023.
- What is a $100,000 salary worth in Iran?
- In purchasing-power terms, $100,000 stretches to about $369,004 of US-equivalent lifestyle in Iran; conversely, sustaining a $100,000 US lifestyle there costs about $27,100.
- Where does the Iran cost-of-living data come from?
- Real price-level figures from the World Bank, IMF World Economic Outlook, OECD, Eurostat and Penn World Table, refreshed at build time. For Iran the sources disagree (multiple rates): The World Bank official rate (PA.NUS.FCRF) is exactly 42,000 rial per dollar for every year 2019-2023 while the open market passed 810,000 (April 2025) and one million (March 2025); an official 280,000 rate applies only to staples and medicine. Dividing a PPP factor that tripled by a frozen denominator makes Iran read as 125% dearer than the United States. Penn World Table (0.271) handles the rate independently and is the only credible vote.