Cost of living in New Caledonia
115.1 with the United States at 100
Prices in New Caledonia are 15% dearer than the United States, and it ranks 8th of 204 countries by price level (dearest first). Figures are for 2021.
Against New Zealand it is 29% dearer.
Compared with its region
New Caledonia against the East Asia & Pacific countries closest to it on price level.
- New Caledonia 115.1
- Guam 111.2
- Vanuatu 104.7
- French Polynesia 101.0
- Tuvalu 97.2
- Palau 96.3
- Marshall Islands 95.2
- Australia 94.4
- Northern Mariana Islands 93.7
SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026
What is dear and what is cheap
No category breakdown is published for New Caledonia. Eurostat's category price levels cover Europe and a handful of others; New Caledonia is outside that programme, so this site has a national figure and no basket detail. Rather than borrow a plausible number from a neighbour, the gap is left where it is.
What this figure is, and is not
- It is an index, not a price. 115.1 means the general level of consumer prices, with the US at 100. It is not a shopping bill and this site never quotes one.
- It is national, not city. Noum'ea is almost certainly dearer than this. National averages cannot answer a city question.
- It is not your budget. What you actually spend depends on rent, transport and habits far more than on the national average.
How the price level is worked out
- The World Bank publishes a purchasing power parity for household consumption — how much local currency buys the same basket as one US dollar — and the official market exchange rate for the same year.
- The price level is simply PPP ÷ exchange rate × 100. If a basket needs 1.50 New Zealand dollars per US dollar of purchasing power but the market hands you 1.65 New Zealand dollars for that dollar, New Zealand's prices sit at 1.50 ÷ 1.65 = 91% of the US level.
- Nothing is modelled, smoothed or estimated. You can reproduce every number on this site from two public figures.
- Where Eurostat also publishes a price level for the same country and year, the two are compared and the gap is printed — including when they disagree.
SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026
SOURCE·World Bank ICP PPPs + Eurostat price level indices·price levels derived as PPP ÷ exchange rate, see method·REVIEWED AUG 2026