Have you ever wondered where the price you pay for LEGO sets falls on a global scale? Is it higher or lower than average? Now you can find out.

We’ve gathered the relevant data and compared LEGO prices across 22 countries/regions, including Europe, North America, and Australia.

Are LEGO sets the cheapest in Australia?

We used the MSRP/RRP data provided by Brickset for our analysis, with U.S. prices as the baseline. Among 22 countries in Europe and North America, Australia turned out to be the cheapest place to buy new LEGO sets. On average, Australian residents pay 2.7% less than the baseline country, the U.S.

This image illustrates the price differences for LEGO sets in various countries compared to the U.S. The colors represent the comparison results:

• Green indicates prices are more than 1% lower than in the U.S.
• Blue represents prices that are roughly the same as in the U.S. (within 1%).
• Light blue shows prices 1% to 5% higher than in the U.S.
• Orange indicates prices are 5% to 7.5% higher than in the U.S.
• Red signifies prices more than 7.5% higher than in the U.S.

From the chart’s colors, we can see that Australia is marked in green, meaning prices there are lower than in the U.S. Canada and mainland U.S. are shown in blue, indicating similar prices.

Most European countries, such as the UK, Germany, and France, are marked in light blue, showing slightly higher prices compared to the U.S. Meanwhile, Nordic countries like Norway and Sweden are marked in red, reflecting significantly higher prices than in the U.S.

LEGO Maintains Price Parity Across Its Major Regional Markets

LEGO‘s pricing is very consistent across its major markets, with price differences between the U.S. and the largest Western European countries being within 1%. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain all use the Euro, and the pricing across these countries is aligned. Prices in these countries are roughly the same as in the U.S., as is the case in the UK and Slovakia.

How Did We Calculate These Numbers?

We obtained the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Prices (MSRP, also commonly referred to as RRP, SRP, or MRP) for the 50 largest sets released so far this year from Brickset.

The U.S. was chosen as the “reference country,” meaning all prices listed in other currencies (like Euros) were converted to U.S. dollars, and any percentage difference reflects a comparison against U.S. baseline prices.

Please note that the prices listed here are LEGO’s original suggested retail prices and do not account for any discounts from third-party retailers.

The exchange rate has a significant impact on the results. To minimize this effect as much as possible, the average exchange rate for 2023 was used here, rather than the real-time rate.

For example, the reason Australia appears to be the cheapest, at least in part, is due to the Australian dollar’s continued strengthening against the US dollar. Given the closeness of the results and the high sensitivity to exchange rate fluctuations, it is unlikely that these results will remain unchanged over the next 12 months.

Take the LEGO Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser™ 75367 as an example, where the price difference between the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and seven EU countries is 5%.

Australia once again shows the lowest price, but future releases may see a reversal, depending on the exchange rate that LEGO uses when “locking in” the final retail price.

Sales tax and VAT (Value Added Tax)

The prices listed by LEGO in the U.S. and Canada do not include federal, state, or local taxes (which may be one of the reasons why overseas LEGO communities perceive prices in the U.S. and Canada as lower).

In the U.S., combined sales tax ranges from 0% (e.g., Oregon) to 9% (e.g., Washington), making products in some states cheaper than in others.

To account for this, a 7.5% sales tax has been applied to U.S. listed prices, based on a population-weighted average tax rate across states. For Canada, a similar approach was taken, resulting in a combined tax rate of 12.4%, which includes GST, PST, HST, and QST.

It’s no surprise that the price of LEGO sets is highest in the Nordic countries, where political systems tend to support a wide range of public services through higher tax rates.

For example, VAT rates in Scandinavia are around 25%, while in Germany, France, and the U.K., VAT rates are approximately 20%.

Other Factors

Exchange rates and sales taxes are major factors affecting prices, but several other elements can also contribute to higher costs, including labor costs, distance from manufacturing locations, consumer purchasing power (e.g., Switzerland), and inflation. These various factors should be taken into account when analyzing price differences.

Why Did We Choose Only 22 Countries?

The pricing data provided by Brickset covers 22 countries, including Australia, Canada, the U.S., and most European nations. These countries represent nearly 900 million people and account for half of the world’s GDP.

Unfortunately, data for other major regions is not as readily available. In fact, without Brickset’s comprehensive price database, I wouldn’t have been able to write this article.

Conclusion: LEGO sets are cheapest in Australia among regions in Europe and North America.

So far, our biggest finding is that prices across major markets are generally consistent. We originally expected to see more variation, especially between North American and European countries.

Even in countries with larger price differences, these are usually due to local factors, such as taxes mentioned earlier.

If LEGO sets are expensive in Switzerland, Barbie dolls, Pokémon cards, and Goo Jit Zu figures are likely to be expensive as well. While we can’t say for certain, this suggests that LEGO aims to maintain as consistent pricing as possible across its major markets (at least on a macro level—individual set prices may still vary).

So, congratulations to Australia, where exchange rates and pricing make it the cheapest place to buy LEGO in Europe and North America.

Now it’s your turn! How are LEGO prices in your region? Do you have any tips for buying LEGO sets at a lower price? I’d love to hear about your experiences—feel free to share them in the comments!