Abu Dhabi vs Barcelona - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Barcelona
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2070	$2116
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4485	$4761
🏠 One person rent	$1417	$1285
🏘️ Family rent	$2400	$2102
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$515
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.3	$161
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2675	$2516
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	51	98
😀 Quality of life	85	90
🏙️ Population	1.57M	1.73M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 2% less expensive than in Barcelona. Cities ranked 1859th and 1722nd ($2070 vs $2116) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 4th in the United Arab Emirates and Spain, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Spain comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.2 months in Barcelona. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Barcelona ranked 2nd in Spain, while ranked 447th and 205th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Barcelona

Prices for goods and services in Abu Dhabi and Barcelona are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Abu Dhabi	Barcelona
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.29	$17.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68.6	$64.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.56	$14.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$6.02
☕ Cappuccino	$5.55	$3.26
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.15	$2.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1520	$1395
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1151	$1073
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2679	$2392
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2026	$1768
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.7	$111
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$173
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$97.1	$36.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.26%	3.08%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4936	$7050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10145	$4924
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$3.17
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$27.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.58	$20.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.8
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$1.29
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.62	$1.7
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.36	$4.24
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$17.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.91	$9.59
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$20.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$2.97
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$2.34
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$2.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.85
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$2.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.99
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.45	$2.49
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$7.46
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.38	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.2	$7.25
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.82	$6.65
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.05	$3.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.75	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5	$2.88
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.9	$56.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$11.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$79.6	$73
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$20
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.9	$92.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.2	$119
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$649	$777
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13889	$16675

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Abu Dhabi

Distance	City	Cost of living
117 km or 73 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1710
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2420
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1473
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1457
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2183
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1148
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1214
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1373
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$2014
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1923
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$635
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$796
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1080
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1109
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1309
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1192
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1135
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$545
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$931
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1037
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$793
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$541
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$823
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$928
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$545
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$575
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$565
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$465
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$489
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$547
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$523
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$575
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$563
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$613
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$761
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$627
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$487
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1632
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1281
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$492

Cities near Barcelona

Distance	City	Cost of living
7 km or 4.4 mi	L'Hospitalet de Llobregat	$1812
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Badalona	$2155
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Cornella de Llobregat	$1656
12 km or 7.5 mi	Sant Boi de Llobregat	$1603
13 km or 8 mi	Ripollet	$1708
17 km or 11 mi	Rubi	$1580
19 km or 12 mi	Sabadell	$1685
24 km or 15 mi	Terrassa	$1473
27 km or 17 mi	Granollers	$1623
28 km or 18 mi	Mataro	$1609
42 km or 26 mi	Vilanova i la Geltru	$1478
48 km or 30 mi	Manresa	$1210
61 km or 38 mi	Vic	$1161
65 km or 40 mi	Lloret de Mar	$1367
83 km or 52 mi	Tarragona	$1531
85 km or 53 mi	Girona	$1741
117 km or 73 mi	Figueres	$1550
131 km or 81 mi	Lleida	$1264
136 km or 85 mi	Andorra la Vella	$1878
141 km or 88 mi	Ordino	$1877
158 km or 98 mi	Perpignan	$1390
176 km or 109 mi	Vinaros	$1493
206 km or 128 mi	Palma de Mallorca	$2000
208 km or 129 mi	Ciutadella de Menorca	$1645
212 km or 131 mi	Narbonne	$1230
230 km or 143 mi	Huesca	$1201
234 km or 145 mi	Beziers	$1509
242 km or 150 mi	Mahon	$1659
245 km or 152 mi	Castellon de la Plana	$1215
247 km or 154 mi	Castres	$1585
250 km or 156 mi	Villarreal	$1267
253 km or 157 mi	Borriana	$1296
254 km or 158 mi	Toulouse	$1709
257 km or 159 mi	Zaragoza	$1471
269 km or 167 mi	Tarbes	$1569
281 km or 174 mi	Sagunto	$1415
282 km or 175 mi	Ibiza	$2879
284 km or 177 mi	Montpellier	$1663
299 km or 186 mi	Pau	$1347
303 km or 189 mi	Valencia	$1797