pathoff← All countries for early study

Early study

Vietnam

The living is cheap. The international schools are not.

4/5
ingredients confirmed
Still unknown: guardian visa
Tuition
$12–22k/yr mid-tier
Ho Chi Minh City. Bilingual schools start near $6,000; premium IB and British schools reach $25,000–40,000 at secondary, with most schools raising fees 3–6% for 2026–27
Living
29.6% of US prices
A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Education
Good at the international schools
The international sector is well established; the local system is not the comparison being made here
Safety
1.738 · 41st of 163

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Tuition$12–22k/yr mid-tier

Ho Chi Minh City international school fee surveys 2026 (ischooladvisor.com; VnExpress International reporting fees reaching about $38,000)

Ho Chi Minh City. Bilingual schools start near $6,000; premium IB and British schools reach $25,000–40,000 at secondary, with most schools raising fees 3–6% for 2026–27

Confidence
printed in the source
Living29.6% of US prices

World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0: the PPP conversion factor for household consumption is 7160.7129 local currency units per international dollar, against an official exchange rate of 24164.8858 to the US dollar. Their ratio, 0.296, is the price level against the United States, whose own ratio is 1 by construction. Both figures are theirs; the division is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
EducationGood at the international schools

Pathoff judgement, no rubric yet: placed against the other countries here from general knowledge of the international-school sector. Under review — see the Pathoff method, section 9-3.

The international sector is well established; the local system is not the comparison being made here

Confidence
made by us from the source
Guardian visaNo data yet

No source recorded.

For this purpose, outcome means whether a parent can accompany the child. We found no Vietnamese route equivalent to a guardian visa and will not invent one

Confidence
no figure
Safety1.738 · 41st of 163

Global Peace Index 2026, Institute for Economics and Peace: score 1.738, ranked 41 of 163. Both figures are theirs; we publish them as they are.

Confidence
printed in the source

What it is like here

Everything in Ho Chi Minh City is inexpensive except the thing you came for. Premium international school fees have climbed towards $38,000 a year, which is Western European money in a country where the rest of life costs a fraction of it. Mid-tier schools at $12,000–22,000 are the realistic bracket. As with Poland, we could not establish how a parent stays here alongside a child, so that ingredient is left empty rather than guessed.

How the process works

1

Apply to the school

Fees are published per year group and rise annually; budget for the increase, not the current figure.

Timing not confirmed
2

Work out the family's immigration basis

Unresolved here. Take advice before committing to a place.

Timing not confirmed

Where families cluster

District 2 / Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City
Where most international schools and foreign families are concentrated

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-03.

Photograph of Vietnam, licensed Pexels License, via Pexels.