Abu Dhabi vs Chennai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Chennai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$430
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$1140
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$346
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$163
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$65.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$848
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	53	78
😀 Quality of life	83	66
🏙️ Population	1.48M	6.6M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 325% more expensive than in Chennai. Cities ranked 2320th and 8897th ($1828 vs $430) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 17th in the United Arab Emirates and India, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs India comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 2 months in Chennai. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Chennai ranked 4th in India, while ranked 438th and 4021st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Chennai infographic

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Chennai

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

	Abu Dhabi	Chennai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$1.83
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$11.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$4.01
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$2.05
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$1.98
🥤 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	$170
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$102
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$470
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$254
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$25.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$39
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$10.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	9.23%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$1935
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$767
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$3.84
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.18
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$0.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$0.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$0.75
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$0.91
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$7.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$3.47
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$6.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$2.69
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$0.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.53
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$8.67
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.78
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$0.82
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.03
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$0.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$18.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$2.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$31.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$2.73
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$26.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$48.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$80.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$1573

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 Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$315
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$258
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$354
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$360
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$514
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$306
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$346
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$367
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$355
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$338
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$304
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$302
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$533
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$311
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$314
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$375
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$359
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$304
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$295
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$351
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$292
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$316
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$280
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$300
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$354
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$349
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$316
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$311
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$304
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$310
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$339
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$366
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$298
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$330
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$272
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$357
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$307
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$272
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$292
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$306