Abu Dhabi vs Beijing - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Beijing
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$1016
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$2879
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$575
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$1275
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$245
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$102
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$1443
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	53	100
😀 Quality of life	83	75
🏙️ Population	1.48M	21.9M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 80% more expensive than in Beijing. Cities ranked 2320th and 5387th ($1828 vs $1016) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 7th 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 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.4 months in Beijing. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Beijing ranked 5th in China, while ranked 438th and 989th 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	$10.6	$3.86
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$29.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$5.36
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$1.22
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$3.58
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$819
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$456
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$1965
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$1021
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$33.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$51.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	3.78%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$14717
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$6695
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.69
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$32.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$4.77
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.12
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.76
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$1.46
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$1.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$13.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$3.23
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$9.64
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.23
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.96
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.35
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.33
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$9.26
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$0.83
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$3.43
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$4.49
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$3.51
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$1.93
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$53.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$8.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$33.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$9.62
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$60.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$76.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$698
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$22456

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	$1721
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2379
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1494
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1844
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2240
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1239
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1779
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1709
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$780
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$967
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1223
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1243
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1090
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$547
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$1068
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1056
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$548
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$897
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$901
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$514
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$518
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$589
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$551
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$546
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$563
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$557
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$585
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$515
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$464
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$605
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$529
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1637
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$536

Cities near Beijing

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Langfang	$716
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuozhou	$729
58 km or 36 mi	Sanhe	$756
78 km or 49 mi	Gaobeidian	$644
87 km or 54 mi	Bazhou	$649
109 km or 68 mi	Tianjin	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Renqiu	$586
137 km or 85 mi	Zunhua	$680
139 km or 87 mi	Baoding	$472
151 km or 94 mi	Binhai	$665
155 km or 97 mi	Tangshan	$702
163 km or 101 mi	Zhangjiakou	$634
164 km or 102 mi	Hejian	$592
176 km or 110 mi	Chengde	$711
182 km or 113 mi	Cangzhou	$679
189 km or 117 mi	Huanghua	$655
189 km or 118 mi	Anguo	$550
196 km or 122 mi	Dingzhou	$584
197 km or 122 mi	Qian'an	$642
198 km or 123 mi	Luanzhou	$635
204 km or 127 mi	Botou	$618
224 km or 139 mi	Shenzhou	$581
228 km or 142 mi	Xinle	$533
229 km or 142 mi	Pingquan	$629
239 km or 148 mi	Jinzhou	$544
241 km or 150 mi	Xinji	$564
249 km or 155 mi	Gaocheng	$524
249 km or 155 mi	Hengshui	$642
252 km or 156 mi	Laoling	$638
263 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$481
265 km or 165 mi	Datong	$703
272 km or 169 mi	Jizhou	$590
273 km or 169 mi	Qinhuangdao	$664
273 km or 170 mi	Dezhou	$638
281 km or 175 mi	Fengzhen	$616
282 km or 175 mi	Huairen	$624
294 km or 183 mi	Lingyuan	$620
296 km or 184 mi	Nangong	$600
302 km or 187 mi	Ulanqab	$620
314 km or 195 mi	Binzhou	$815