Abu Dhabi vs Beijing - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Beijing
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1942	$1029
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4262	$2645
🏠 One person rent	$1271	$589
🏘️ Family rent	$2152	$1040
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$246
🚐 Transport expenses	$77.2	$98
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3050	$658
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	53	100
😀 Quality of life	85	73
🏙️ Population	1.57M	21.9M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 89% more expensive than in Beijing. Cities ranked 2187th and 5355th ($1942 vs $1029) 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 1.6 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.6 months in Beijing. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Beijing ranked 11th in China, while ranked 443rd and 2546th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Beijing infographic

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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	$10.9	$4.24
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.6	$27.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.53	$5.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.7	$1.12
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$2.82
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.34	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1358	$850
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1002	$469
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2476	$1549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1762	$839
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.6	$30.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$46.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$13.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.01%	3.51%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5485	$14720
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12028	$6180
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$31.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.63	$4.61
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.97	$1.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.69
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.63	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$14.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.07	$3.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$10.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$2.21
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.76
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.34
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$0.77
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.88
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.41	$1.18
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$8.33
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.54	$0.79
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.29	$4.04
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.83	$4.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$3.55
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.73	$1.7
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.92	$1.96
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.4	$59.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$8.35
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.5	$33.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$8.03
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.4	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$78.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$598	$713
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12663	$22823

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	$1730
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2514
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1419
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1449
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2521
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1228
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1849
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1770
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$792
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1078
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1201
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1230
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1081
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$530
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$908
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1008
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$529
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$873
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$930
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$534
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$568
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$553
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$453
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$477
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$530
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$503
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$573
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$557
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$761
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$624
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$463
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1627
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$483

Cities near Beijing

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Langfang	$707
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuozhou	$724
58 km or 36 mi	Sanhe	$750
78 km or 49 mi	Gaobeidian	$634
87 km or 54 mi	Bazhou	$634
109 km or 68 mi	Tianjin	$646
135 km or 84 mi	Renqiu	$565
137 km or 85 mi	Zunhua	$660
139 km or 87 mi	Baoding	$456
151 km or 94 mi	Binhai	$641
155 km or 97 mi	Tangshan	$688
163 km or 101 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
164 km or 102 mi	Hejian	$558
176 km or 110 mi	Chengde	$694
182 km or 113 mi	Cangzhou	$638
189 km or 117 mi	Huanghua	$619
189 km or 118 mi	Anguo	$533
196 km or 122 mi	Dingzhou	$574
197 km or 122 mi	Qian'an	$616
198 km or 123 mi	Luanzhou	$614
204 km or 127 mi	Botou	$564
224 km or 139 mi	Shenzhou	$505
228 km or 142 mi	Xinle	$535
229 km or 142 mi	Pingquan	$615
239 km or 148 mi	Jinzhou	$527
241 km or 150 mi	Xinji	$523
249 km or 155 mi	Gaocheng	$527
249 km or 155 mi	Hengshui	$454
252 km or 156 mi	Laoling	$580
263 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$505
265 km or 165 mi	Datong	$748
272 km or 169 mi	Jizhou	$499
273 km or 169 mi	Qinhuangdao	$558
273 km or 170 mi	Dezhou	$480
281 km or 175 mi	Fengzhen	$642
282 km or 175 mi	Huairen	$654
294 km or 183 mi	Lingyuan	$601
296 km or 184 mi	Nangong	$550
302 km or 187 mi	Ulanqab	$629
314 km or 195 mi	Binzhou	$741