7 things that cost less in the US than they do abroad

It's a good time to be a motorist in the United States of America.

Thanks to robust local production, a liter of gas in the US costs an average of $0.72, or $2.69 per gallon. Many Europeans pay up to $1.81 per liter, which is a staggering $6.84 per gallon. And in Hong Kong, at last check, fuel was priced at $7.60.

Last year, Americans paid an average of $0.99 for a liter of milk, or about $3.75 for a gallon.

That ranks at No. 149 out of more than 180 countries for which data was available. And while a liter of milk cost half as much in Nepal as in the US, in 34 nations, it cost at least twice as much, and in a few, three times as much.

In Barbados and Papua New Guinea, for example, milk costs well over $3 a gallon.

Cars are one of the most expensive purchases you'll ever make.

But believe it or not, cars are cheaper in the US than most other countries.

Using an affordable, compact car as the model (think a VW Golf), the Unites States ranks all the way down at No. 117 on the list of the most expensive places to buy a car.

You'll pay about $20,000 for an economy car in the US, while the same ride would run you several thousand more across most of Europe, double that in parts of Africa and Asia, and more than $100,000 in Singapore, according to the most recent data available.

If you want to get one of the most powerful smartphones ever made, you should get it in America.

The base model iPhone X has a starting price of $999 here, while it sold for $1,200 in China, and well over $1,300 in the UK, Italy, and other European nations. (Ironically, China pays more for a product produced in its own territory.)

You might not believe it if you live in the Bay Area, near New York City, or inside the Beltway, but land is actually quite affordable in America, so long as you're willing to stake your claim well outside of major metro areas.

Out of 93 countries for which data was available, America ranked the second most affordable nation in which to buy land, beaten out only by Saudi Arabia.

In the days before the fall of the Soviet Union, wearing blue jeans in the USSR was both a statement and a status symbol — the former because they were seen as quintessentially Western, the latter because they were rare and expensive.

Today, a Russian will pay an average of $67.94 for a pair. In the United Kingdom, they go for about $10 more than that. And in Iceland, you'll pay about $114.50. In the States, however, they cost just over $43 per pair on average. A number of nations sell blue jeans for less, but America ranks much closer to the cheaper end of the list than the most expensive.