Abu Dhabi vs Chennai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Chennai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$409
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$1006
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$142
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$243
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$156
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$67
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$254
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	51	79
😀 Quality of life	85	65
🏙️ Population	1.57M	6.6M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 422% more expensive than in Chennai. Cities ranked 1650th and 8947th ($2133 vs $409) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 15th 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 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.6 months in Chennai. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Chennai ranked 2nd in India, while ranked 424th and 5131st among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$8.11	$2.12
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$10.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$4.18
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$1.57
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$1.59
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.14	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1728	$160
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$97.5
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$282
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$178
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$24
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$36.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$7.79
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	9.78%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$1739
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$712
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$10.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$4.75
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$1.06
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.87	$0.54
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$0.5
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$0.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$5.58
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$3.18
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$6.29
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$2.94
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$0.85
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$1.37
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$0.46
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.2
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$7.82
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$1.79
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$4.37
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$0.75
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$3.25
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$0.94
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$0.73
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$15.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$2.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$29.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$2.53
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$23
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$37.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$71.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$1792

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 Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$306
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$232
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$302
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$322
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$508
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$294
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$320
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$348
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$339
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$317
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$283
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$275
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$507
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$290
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$297
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$339
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$325
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$331
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$274
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$303
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$273
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$292
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$265
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$330
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$328
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$317
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$290
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$332
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$280
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$342
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$313
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$359
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$255
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$281
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$247
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$327
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$271
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$250
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$264
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$259