Phuket may be nearly 17,000 kilometres away from the Dominican Republic's Santo Domingo in terms of geography, but they are much closer when it comes to cost of living.

According to crowd-scourced global database Numbeo, Phuket's overall cost of living index is 46.65, just behind Santo Domingo's score of 46.96.

Expense distribution in Phuket (individual per month) - at a glance

• Food purchases - 32,197.67 ฿ 
• Rent (three bedroom apartment in city) -  28,500.00 ฿
• Transportation -8,457.50 ฿
• Restaurants - 6,693.57 ฿  
• Clothing and shoes - 2,707.78 ฿

The data uses a base city with a score of 100, in this case New York, to rank other cities by comparison.

Phuket's index means it is ranked 261st out of 439 cities in the world, coming in almost 50 positions behind Bangkok, but more than 30 ahead of Southeast Asian neighbour Bali.

Numbeo's estimator calculates the monthly costs for a family of four in living in Phuket to be baht 60,933.21 without rent, and baht 17,226.51 for a single person.

The data indicates markets are the primary source of expense distribution, accounting for more than 40 per cent of spending.

Next is rent at 21.8 per cent, followed by transportation at 11 per cent.

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