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₮792,000 a Month
Mongolia's minimum wage rose to ₮792,000 per month in April 2025 — about $230. In Ulaanbaatar, where half the country's population lives, the cheapest one-bedroom apartment rents for ₮1,200,000. That's 152% of the minimum wage gone before you buy a single meal. This calculator puts you in the shoes of a minimum-wage worker and asks: where do you cut?
The calculator reveals an uncomfortable fact that policy debates often obscure: in Ulaanbaatar, basic survival costs nearly twice the minimum wage. The gap isn't caused by wasteful spending — it exists even when every category is set to the lowest reasonable amount. Housing alone consumes the entire paycheck.
Monthly budget breakdown
How a minimum-wage earner in Ulaanbaatar splits their monthly 660,000₮.
Source: National Statistics Office of Mongolia
Wages Tripled in a Decade — But So Did Rent
Minimum wage and average rent in Ulaanbaatar, 2014–2024. Both tripled but rent outpaced wages.
Source: National Statistics Office of Mongolia
Only Rural Aimags Can Live on the Minimum Wage
Monthly surplus or deficit after basic expenses, by aimag. Only rural areas stay positive.
Source: NSO Mongolia; MIT Living Wage Research
Wage Rose 3× — But Rent Still Doubles It
Change in minimum wage vs average rent, 2014 to 2024.
Source: NSO Mongolia; Numbeo
The question isn't whether Mongolia's minimum wage is too low — the calculator makes that answer self-evident. The question is what a sufficient minimum wage would need to be. In Ulaanbaatar, the numbers point to ₮2,600,000 per month — more than three times the current rate. Until that gap closes, half of Mongolia's population is making impossible choices between rent, food, and heat.
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