Abu Dhabi vs Beijing - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Beijing
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$1108
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$2811
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$648
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$1139
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$259
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$101
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$769
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	51	100
😀 Quality of life	85	73
🏙️ Population	1.57M	21.9M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 93% more expensive than in Beijing. Cities ranked 1650th and 4987th ($2133 vs $1108) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 6th in the United Arab Emirates and China, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.7 months in Beijing. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Beijing ranked 14th in China, while ranked 424th and 2361st among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Beijing

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

	Abu Dhabi	Beijing
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.11	$4.47
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$29.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$1.17
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$3.27
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.14	$0.58
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1728	$965
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$510
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$1738
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$909
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$32.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$50
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$14.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$12536
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$6136
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.67
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$31.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$4.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.87	$1.96
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.76
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$2.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$13.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$11.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$2.23
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$1.87
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$0.86
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$0.94
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$3.67
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$4.65
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$3.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$1.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$54.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$8.12
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$36.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$8.74
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$62.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$89.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$621
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$25910

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 Beijing

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Langfang	$740
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuozhou	$764
58 km or 36 mi	Sanhe	$800
78 km or 49 mi	Gaobeidian	$666
87 km or 54 mi	Bazhou	$666
109 km or 68 mi	Tianjin	$682
135 km or 84 mi	Renqiu	$586
137 km or 85 mi	Zunhua	$697
139 km or 87 mi	Baoding	$480
151 km or 94 mi	Binhai	$672
155 km or 97 mi	Tangshan	$720
163 km or 101 mi	Zhangjiakou	$680
164 km or 102 mi	Hejian	$576
176 km or 110 mi	Chengde	$722
182 km or 113 mi	Cangzhou	$623
189 km or 117 mi	Huanghua	$645
189 km or 118 mi	Anguo	$541
196 km or 122 mi	Dingzhou	$556
197 km or 122 mi	Qian'an	$648
198 km or 123 mi	Luanzhou	$645
204 km or 127 mi	Botou	$574
224 km or 139 mi	Shenzhou	$525
228 km or 142 mi	Xinle	$541
229 km or 142 mi	Pingquan	$646
239 km or 148 mi	Jinzhou	$541
241 km or 150 mi	Xinji	$539
249 km or 155 mi	Gaocheng	$541
249 km or 155 mi	Hengshui	$480
252 km or 156 mi	Laoling	$599
263 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$521
265 km or 165 mi	Datong	$789
272 km or 169 mi	Jizhou	$522
273 km or 169 mi	Qinhuangdao	$589
273 km or 170 mi	Dezhou	$511
281 km or 175 mi	Fengzhen	$676
282 km or 175 mi	Huairen	$684
294 km or 183 mi	Lingyuan	$634
296 km or 184 mi	Nangong	$579
302 km or 187 mi	Ulanqab	$665
314 km or 195 mi	Binzhou	$759