Purchasing Power Parity · Macau
Cost of living in 🇲🇴 Macau vs the United States
Macau has a US-relative price level of 0.554 (US = 1.0) — about 45% cheaper than the United States. Reference year 2025.
What US salaries are worth in Macau
| US income | Feels like (US-equivalent) | Cost of a US lifestyle |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $90,253 | $27,700 |
| $80,000 | $144,404 | $44,320 |
| $120,000 | $216,607 | $66,480 |
| $180,000 | $324,910 | $99,720 |
| $250,000 | $451,264 | $138,500 |
“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 Macau's price level slightly differently; a tight spread means high confidence.
These sources disagree — the figure above is the World Bank figure alone, decided by a person, not a blend.
Exchange regime: currency board. The pataca is linked to the Hong Kong dollar at HKD 1 = MOP 1.03 under a currency board (AMCM), and the World Bank official rate (8.03 per US dollar) is that link through the Hong Kong peg. No exchange-rate story; Penn World Table's 0.91 is the outlier and the World Bank's 0.554 is preferred.
Checked 2026-09-09 against secondary sources; the authority's own page could not be read.
Cost of living around the world
Every country shaded by its price level relative to the US (darker = more expensive). Macau is outlined.
Countries with a similar cost of living
- 🇧🇿 Belize — price level 0.551
- 🇲🇻 Maldives — price level 0.562
- 🇶🇦 Qatar — price level 0.563
- 🇰🇼 Kuwait — price level 0.566
- 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — price level 0.568
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Frequently asked questions
- How expensive is Macau compared to the United States?
- Macau has a price level of 0.554 relative to the US baseline of 1.0 (about 45% cheaper than the United States), based on the World Bank figure alone — the sources disagree and a curated exchange-regime register names the one to believe, reference year 2025.
- What is a $100,000 salary worth in Macau?
- In purchasing-power terms, $100,000 stretches to about $180,505 of US-equivalent lifestyle in Macau; conversely, sustaining a $100,000 US lifestyle there costs about $55,400.
- Where does the Macau 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 Macau the sources disagree (currency board): The pataca is linked to the Hong Kong dollar at HKD 1 = MOP 1.03 under a currency board (AMCM), and the World Bank official rate (8.03 per US dollar) is that link through the Hong Kong peg. No exchange-rate story; Penn World Table's 0.91 is the outlier and the World Bank's 0.554 is preferred.