Gothenburgvs
Ho Chi Minh CityGothenburg vs Ho Chi Minh City: cost, size & quality of life compared
Trying to decide between Gothenburg and Ho Chi Minh City? Here's the honest bottom line first — then the full, sourced breakdown on cost of living, salary, safety and quality of life.
Gothenburg comes out ahead overall — by a clear margin.
But the "winner" depends on what you care about. Here's who takes each dimension:
GothenburgHo Chi Minh CityGothenburgGothenburgComposite scores
Overall: Gothenburg wins by 1.1 points
Population & size
Is Gothenburg bigger than Ho Chi Minh City?
Ho Chi Minh City is the bigger city: about 9.0M people versus Gothenburg's 580k — roughly 16× larger.
City-proper / metro population estimates. Size is one input — scroll on for cost of living, salary equivalence and quality-of-life scoring.
National income
Is Gothenburg richer than Ho Chi Minh City?
The two sit on different measures, so we are not ranking them: Sweden is reported as average annual wage ($60,415), Vietnam as income per capita (GNI, PPP) ($15,850). A full-time wage and a whole-population income per head are not the same quantity.
Country-level figures — Gothenburg is not Sweden and Ho Chi Minh City is not Vietnam, and both cities typically pay above their national average. Gross, before tax: see take-home pay by country for what lands in the account.
Distance
How far is Gothenburg from Ho Chi Minh City?
Gothenburg is about 9,270 km (5,760 mi) from Ho Chi Minh City in a straight line — roughly 11 h 40 m of nonstop flight time.
Great-circle distance, not a routed itinerary; flight estimate assumes ~850 km/h cruise plus 45 minutes of taxi, climb and descent.
Climate
Is Gothenburg warmer than Ho Chi Minh City?
Ho Chi Minh City is the warmer city: January highs average 32°C vs 2°C, and July 32°C vs 21°C. Ho Chi Minh City gets noticeably more sun — about 780 more sunshine hours per year.
| Month | Gothenburg | Ho Chi Minh City |
|---|---|---|
| January (high / low) | 2° / -3°C | 32° / 21°C |
| July (high / low) | 21° / 13°C | 32° / 24°C |
Maritime Nordic — milder than Stockholm thanks to the Atlantic, but wetter and windier. Short bright summers, long dark wet winters.
Tropical wet/dry. Hot humid year-round with two seasons: dry (Dec-Apr) and rainy (May-Nov). Daily afternoon thunderstorms in wet season.
Gothenburg's 5.7 score edges Ho Chi Minh City by 0.2 points, a negligible spread suggesting these cities operate in fundamentally different leagues despite appearing statistically similar.
Most city comparisons with such narrow gaps reflect measurement error rather than real distinction, yet Gothenburg and Ho Chi Minh City serve completely different purposes for different people.
Don't use this score as a tiebreaker between these cities; instead, identify which specific factors in your decision matter most, then compare those metrics directly rather than relying on composite rankings.
Data signals
What separates Gothenburg and Ho Chi Minh City
How decisive
Gothenburg comes out ahead by 1.1 composite points — a clear edge.
Biggest difference
The widest gap is healthcare, where Gothenburg leads by 2.4 points.
Where they match
They're most evenly matched on quality of life — within 1.0 points of each other.
Overall cost gap
Total monthly costs in Ho Chi Minh City run about 44% lower than in Gothenburg.
Where budgets split most
Transport is the line item that diverges most: roughly 85% cheaper in Ho Chi Minh City than Gothenburg.
Size difference
Ho Chi Minh City is the larger metro — about 15.5× the population of the other, which shapes commute times, housing supply and how "big-city" daily life feels.
Home internet
Gothenburg has the faster typical broadband (250 vs 75 Mbps median) — worth weighing if you work remotely or move large files.
Safety
Ho Chi Minh City scores higher on safety (60 vs 52 / 100) — a common deciding factor for families.
Score-by-score, side-by-side
Each axis is scored independently with disclosed weights and a calculation string.
The exact scores and winners:
| Axis | Gothenburg | Ho Chi Minh City | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affordability | 7.2 | 8.4 | Ho Chi Minh City +1.2 |
| Quality of life | 6.6 | 5.6 | Gothenburg +1.0 |
| Remote-work friendliness | 7.9 | 5.8 | Gothenburg +2.1 |
| Healthcare | 6.5 | 4.1 | Gothenburg +2.4 |
Each axis is a weighted aggregate of underlying indicators normalized to a 0–10 scale. Weights are explicit and disclosed per axis. The composite is the unweighted mean of the four axes — axes are not collapsed further because the underlying trade-offs (e.g. low cost vs poor air quality) are user-dependent.
Affordability
- Cost-of-living index (weight 60%)32
- Rent index (weight 40%)23
How this is calculated
Affordability = ((100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − rentIndex)/100 × 0.4) × 10. For Gothenburg: ((100 − 32)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − 23)/100 × 0.4) × 10 = 7.2.
Gothenburg sits well below the New York baseline on both cost-of-living and rent. Budgets stretch further here than in benchmark Tier-1 cities.
Quality of life
- Safety index (weight 40%)52
- Healthcare index (weight 35%)75
- Air quality index (weight 25%)74
How this is calculated
QoL = (safety/100 × 0.4 + healthcare/100 × 0.35 + airQuality/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Gothenburg: (52/100 × 0.4 + 75/100 × 0.35 + 74/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 6.6.
Gothenburg has a mixed quality profile. Safety: fair; healthcare: good; air: good. Weigh the weakest axis against your personal priorities.
Remote-work friendliness
- Internet (median Mbps) (weight 45%)250 Mbps
- Effective income tax (lower = better) (weight 30%)16.9%
- Cost-of-living (lower = better) (weight 25%)32
How this is calculated
RemoteWork = (min(Mbps/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − incomeTax) × 0.3 + (100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Gothenburg: (min(250/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − 0.169) × 0.3 + (100 − 32)/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 7.9.
Gothenburg combines fast internet (250 Mbps median), a 17% effective income tax and cost index 32 — a strong configuration for remote workers earning in a stronger currency.
Healthcare
- Healthcare quality index (weight 70%)75
- Healthcare out-of-pocket / month (lower = better) (weight 30%)290
How this is calculated
Healthcare = (qualityIndex/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − OOP/500) × 0.3) × 10. For Gothenburg: (75/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − 290/500) × 0.3) × 10 = 6.5.
Gothenburg has trade-offs in healthcare: quality is good, typical out-of-pocket cost is ~290 SEK/month. Cross-border insurance closes the gap.
Each axis is a weighted aggregate of underlying indicators normalized to a 0–10 scale. Weights are explicit and disclosed per axis. The composite is the unweighted mean of the four axes — axes are not collapsed further because the underlying trade-offs (e.g. low cost vs poor air quality) are user-dependent.
Affordability
- Cost-of-living index (weight 60%)18
- Rent index (weight 40%)14
How this is calculated
Affordability = ((100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − rentIndex)/100 × 0.4) × 10. For Ho Chi Minh City: ((100 − 18)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − 14)/100 × 0.4) × 10 = 8.4.
Ho Chi Minh City sits well below the New York baseline on both cost-of-living and rent. Budgets stretch further here than in benchmark Tier-1 cities.
Quality of life
- Safety index (weight 40%)60
- Healthcare index (weight 35%)58
- Air quality index (weight 25%)48
How this is calculated
QoL = (safety/100 × 0.4 + healthcare/100 × 0.35 + airQuality/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Ho Chi Minh City: (60/100 × 0.4 + 58/100 × 0.35 + 48/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 5.6.
Ho Chi Minh City has a mixed quality profile. Safety: good; healthcare: good; air: fair. Weigh the weakest axis against your personal priorities.
Remote-work friendliness
- Internet (median Mbps) (weight 45%)75 Mbps
- Effective income tax (lower = better) (weight 30%)12.0%
- Cost-of-living (lower = better) (weight 25%)18
How this is calculated
RemoteWork = (min(Mbps/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − incomeTax) × 0.3 + (100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Ho Chi Minh City: (min(75/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − 0.12) × 0.3 + (100 − 18)/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 5.8.
Ho Chi Minh City works for remote work but isn't optimized for it: internet 75 Mbps, income tax 12%, cost index 18.
Healthcare
- Healthcare quality index (weight 70%)58
- Healthcare out-of-pocket / month (lower = better) (weight 30%)1112331
How this is calculated
Healthcare = (qualityIndex/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − OOP/500) × 0.3) × 10. For Ho Chi Minh City: (58/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − 1112331/500) × 0.3) × 10 = 4.1.
Ho Chi Minh City has trade-offs in healthcare: quality is good, typical out-of-pocket cost is ~1112331 VND/month. Cross-border insurance closes the gap.
Monthly cost delta: Gothenburg vs Ho Chi Minh City
Normalized to SEK at 1 VND = 0.0004 SEK.
| Category | Gothenburg | Ho Chi Minh City | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| housing | SEK 10,427 | ₫14,965,444 | -40% |
| food | SEK 3,769 | ₫4,171,241 | -54% |
| transport | SEK 860 | ₫300,000 | -85% |
| utilities | SEK 1,077 | ₫2,662,798 | +3% |
| leisure | SEK 4,059 | ₫4,449,324 | -54% |
| healthcare | SEK 290 | ₫1,112,331 | +60% |
Where each city's money goes
Two cities can have the same monthly total but very different shapes — one might burn 50% on housing while the other splits more evenly. The composition matters as much as the headline.
The biggest shape difference is utilities: Ho Chi Minh City spends 4.4 percentage points more of its budget on it (10% vs. 5%). If you're sensitive to that category, weight the per-axis scores accordingly.
Buying property
Apartment prices: Gothenburg vs Ho Chi Minh City
Approximate asking prices in EUR per square meter (as of 2025-01), central vs mid-distance neighborhoods.
Buying in central Ho Chi Minh City runs about 17% cheaper per square meter (€4,500/m² vs €5,400/m²).
Midpoints of public listing ranges — a scoping number for rent-vs-buy thinking, not a valuation. Renting comparisons live in the cost table above.
Getting around
Public transport: Gothenburg vs Ho Chi Minh City
Monthly pass and casual-ride pricing in EUR (as of 2025-01) plus the modes each network runs.
Västtrafik zone A monthly SEK 860 includes the archipelago ferries; the tram network is Scandinavia's largest.
Single ride: €3.25 · Modes: Tram, Bus, Ferry
Metro Line 1 opened end of 2024 — first true metro line; before that, the city ran entirely on buses and motorbikes.
Single ride: €0.5 · Modes: Metro, Bus
Salary equivalence: Gothenburg ↔ Ho Chi Minh City
What earning the same purchasing power costs in each city. Cost-adjusted using the local cost-of-living index (Gothenburg = 32, Ho Chi Minh City = 18); currency-converted at 1 VND = 0.0004 SEK. Tax differences are not modeled.
| Gothenburg gross | Ho Chi Minh City equivalent |
|---|---|
| SEK 40,000 | ₫53,808,680 |
| SEK 75,000 | ₫100,891,275 |
| SEK 120,000 | ₫161,426,041 |
| Ho Chi Minh City gross | Gothenburg equivalent |
|---|---|
| ₫40,000 | SEK 30 |
| ₫75,000 | SEK 56 |
| ₫120,000 | SEK 89 |
Equivalence here means same cost-of-living purchasing power, not same net take-home. Effective tax rates differ between countries; a salary equivalent on cost can still net more or less depending on the destination's tax regime. Use the calculator for tax-adjusted figures at a specific lifestyle tier.
Pros and cons
Why pick Gothenburg
- Wins on quality of life (+1.0 points vs Ho Chi Minh City).
- Wins on remote-work friendliness (+2.1 points vs Ho Chi Minh City).
- Wins on healthcare (+2.4 points vs Ho Chi Minh City).
Why pick Ho Chi Minh City
- Wins on affordability (+1.2 points vs Gothenburg).
Gothenburg trade-offs
- Trails Ho Chi Minh City on affordability by 1.2 points.
Ho Chi Minh City trade-offs
- Trails Gothenburg on quality of life by 1.0 points.
- Trails Gothenburg on remote-work friendliness by 2.1 points.
- Trails Gothenburg on healthcare by 2.4 points.
Remote work logistics
Time zones and language: Gothenburg vs Ho Chi Minh City
Gothenburg (Europe/Stockholm) and Ho Chi Minh City (Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh) sit 6 hours apart in standard time. A 9-to-5 in one overlaps the other's for 2 hours a day. Note: Gothenburg observes daylight saving while Ho Chi Minh City doesn't, so the gap shifts by an hour part of the year.
Official: Swedish · English: Native-equivalent · Local language: Not needed
Scandinavian-typical near-universal English; Volvo and the tech sector operate substantially in English. Swedish is for integration and long-term settling, not survival.
Official: Vietnamese · English: Moderate · Local language: Useful
Vietnamese required for most bureaucratic interactions. English usable in central HCMC business districts (D1, D7) and tech / international companies; limited in older neighborhoods and government offices.
Who should choose which
The composite winner doesn't always match what matters to you. These four reader profiles weigh the axes differently — find the closest fit.
Single, salaried remote worker, 25-40, optimizing for runway + bandwidth.
Axes scored: affordability, remoteWork
Couple with school-age children, prioritizing safety, healthcare, and air quality.
Axes scored: qualityOfLife, healthcare
Fixed income, healthcare-sensitive, prefers low cost and stable infrastructure.
Axes scored: healthcare, qualityOfLife, affordability
Salary stretch matters most. Cuts everything else if it lowers the burn rate.
Axes scored: affordability
Profiles use simple axis averaging — for a deeper read with your own weights, use the per-axis breakdown above.
Going deeper
Visa landscape for both countries — and case studies that touch this corridor.
Tools that work for either choice
Some links below are affiliate links — if you sign up we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
How this page is calculated
Data sources
- Mundevo per-city dataset. Cost basket, rent index, safety, healthcare, air quality and median internet for both cities. Reference date: 2026-06-10 (Gothenburg) and 2026-05-28 (Ho Chi Minh City).
- FX rate. 1 VND = 0.0004 SEK, used to normalize cost baskets.
- CityScoreCalculator. Four axes (Affordability, Quality of life, Remote work, Healthcare) computed with explicit weights and explanations. See per-axis calculation strings rendered on this page.
- ComparisonService. Per-category cost deltas (housing, food, transport, utilities, leisure, healthcare) normalized to the origin currency.
Update cadence
Data as of . Last reviewed .
Calculation
For each of the four axes we compute an independent 0–10 score using the formulas printed beside each axis. The composite is the unweighted mean of the four axes. The overall winner is the city with the higher composite, unless the margin is under 0.05 points — in which case Gothenburg is shown first as a tiebreaker to keep results stable.
Limitations
- Climate is not scored — we don't yet hold a maintained climate dataset, so weather-driven preferences are not modeled.
- Tax differences between cities in the same country are not modeled (Spain and Germany don't have material regional differences for this dataset).
- Indices are population-level. Personal cost varies with neighborhood, employer benefits and family status.
- Quality-of-life axis weights (safety 0.4 / healthcare 0.35 / air 0.25) are editorial defaults — readers with strong preferences should re-weight manually.
Frequently asked questions
Gothenburg vs Ho Chi Minh City: which is cheaper?
Ho Chi Minh City is roughly 44% cheaper than Gothenburg on the monthly cost basket (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare). Gothenburg has cost index 32 vs Ho Chi Minh City at 18 (both with New York = 100).
Which city has better quality of life?
Gothenburg scores 7.1/10 on the Mundevo composite versus Ho Chi Minh City at 6.0/10. The composite weights safety (40%), healthcare (35%) and air quality (25%). Gothenburg wins overall by 1.1 points.
Is Gothenburg or Ho Chi Minh City better for remote work?
Gothenburg has 250 Mbps median internet vs Ho Chi Minh City at 75 Mbps. The four-axis decision rubric on this page (affordability, quality of life, remote work, healthcare) gives a per-dimension breakdown rather than a single answer.
Is Gothenburg bigger than Ho Chi Minh City?
Ho Chi Minh City is larger — about 9.0M people versus Gothenburg's 580k, roughly 15.5× the size.
Is Gothenburg safer than Ho Chi Minh City?
Ho Chi Minh City scores higher on safety — 60 vs 52 / 100 on the Mundevo safety index (crime and personal-security signals).
Should I move to Gothenburg or Ho Chi Minh City?
It depends on what you weight. Gothenburg wins the overall Mundevo composite by 1.1 points, but Ho Chi Minh City is cheaper, and the two split differently across affordability, quality of life, remote work and healthcare. Use the per-axis table and the reader-profile section above to match the verdict to your own priorities.