Abu Dhabi vs Barcelona - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Barcelona
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$2129
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$4730
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$1308
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$2082
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$510
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$158
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$2324
😷 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 0.2% more expensive than in Barcelona. Cities ranked 1650th and 1659th ($2133 vs $2129) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 3rd 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 1.1 months in Barcelona. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Barcelona ranked 2nd in Spain, while ranked 424th and 174th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$8.11	$17.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$64.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$13.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$5.8
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$3.43
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.14	$2.8
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1728	$1418
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$1098
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$2417
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$1738
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$112
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$173
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$35
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	3.04%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$7636
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$5246
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$3.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$26.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$20
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$1.75
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.87	$1.29
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.84
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.63
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$4.86
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$16.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$9.71
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$19
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$3.03
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$2.2
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$2.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$2.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$2.14
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$2.05
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$2.35
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$8.04
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$1.41
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$7.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$6.48
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$3.42
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$1.99
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$2.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$56.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$11.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$72.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$19
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$91.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$119
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$866
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$16301

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	$1791
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2470
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1543
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1455
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2356
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1170
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1173
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1355
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$2100
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$2015
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$620
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$797
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1082
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1062
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1340
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1218
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1193
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$494
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$965
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1059
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$821
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$497
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$778
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$917
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$521
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$526
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$505
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$454
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$457
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$485
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$471
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$530
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$514
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$558
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$700
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$559
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$459
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1628
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1247
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$469

Cities near Barcelona

Distance	City	Cost of living
7 km or 4.4 mi	L'Hospitalet de Llobregat	$1773
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Badalona	$2084
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Cornella de Llobregat	$1626
12 km or 7.5 mi	Sant Boi de Llobregat	$1586
13 km or 8 mi	Ripollet	$1660
17 km or 11 mi	Rubi	$1538
19 km or 12 mi	Sabadell	$1623
24 km or 15 mi	Terrassa	$1367
27 km or 17 mi	Granollers	$1588
28 km or 18 mi	Mataro	$1584
42 km or 26 mi	Vilanova i la Geltru	$1455
48 km or 30 mi	Manresa	$1145
61 km or 38 mi	Vic	$1142
65 km or 40 mi	Lloret de Mar	$1344
83 km or 52 mi	Tarragona	$1524
85 km or 53 mi	Girona	$1749
117 km or 73 mi	Figueres	$1506
131 km or 81 mi	Lleida	$1245
136 km or 85 mi	Andorra la Vella	$1836
141 km or 88 mi	Ordino	$1830
158 km or 98 mi	Perpignan	$1328
176 km or 109 mi	Vinaros	$1494
206 km or 128 mi	Palma de Mallorca	$2017
208 km or 129 mi	Ciutadella de Menorca	$1628
212 km or 131 mi	Narbonne	$1202
230 km or 143 mi	Huesca	$1166
234 km or 145 mi	Beziers	$1474
242 km or 150 mi	Mahon	$1658
245 km or 152 mi	Castellon de la Plana	$1183
247 km or 154 mi	Castres	$1596
250 km or 156 mi	Villarreal	$1238
253 km or 157 mi	Borriana	$1271
254 km or 158 mi	Toulouse	$1709
257 km or 159 mi	Zaragoza	$1436
269 km or 167 mi	Tarbes	$1558
281 km or 174 mi	Sagunto	$1408
282 km or 175 mi	Ibiza	$2775
284 km or 177 mi	Montpellier	$1644
299 km or 186 mi	Pau	$1351
303 km or 189 mi	Valencia	$1812