Abu Dhabi vs Brussels - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Brussels
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$1816
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$4478
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$1024
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$1880
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$567
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$85.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$2931
😷 Air quality	Bad	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	53	96
😀 Quality of life	83	89
🏙️ Population	1.48M	196K

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 0.7% more expensive than in Brussels. Cities ranked 2320th and 2354th ($1828 vs $1816) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st in the United Arab Emirates and Belgium, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Belgium comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.6 months in Brussels. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Brussels ranked 1st in Belgium, while ranked 438th and 190th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Brussels infographic

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Brussels

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

	Abu Dhabi	Brussels
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$18.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$76.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$12.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$5.16
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$4.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$2.85
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$973
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$770
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$1932
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$1489
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$161
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$250
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$52.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	3.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$4675
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$4207
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$2.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$53.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$23.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.53
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$2.42
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$2.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$4.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$14.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$12.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$17.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$2.53
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$3.08
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$2.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$2.11
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.81
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$3.21
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$8.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$2.32
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$10.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$9.25
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$4.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.93
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$2.78
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$34.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$13.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$38.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$24.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$94.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$975
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$19505

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 Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1651
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1663
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1667
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1692
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1580
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1647
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1642
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1660
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1539
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1685
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1618
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1788
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1626
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1556
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1615
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1594
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1541
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1607
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1585
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1536
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1599
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1560
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1663
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1683
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1446
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1492
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1537
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1523
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1461
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1488
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1530
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1362
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1509
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1520
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1475
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1514
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1578
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1613
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1488
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1640