Abu Dhabi vs Houston - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Houston
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$2265
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$5664
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$1305
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$2467
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$581
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$212
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$4390
😷 Air quality	Bad	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	53	100
😀 Quality of life	83	91
🏙️ Population	1.48M	2.3M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 19% less expensive than in Houston. Cities ranked 2320th and 1229th ($1828 vs $2265) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1115th in the United Arab Emirates and the United States, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.9 months in Houston. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Houston ranked 14th in the United States, while ranked 438th and 97th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Houston infographic

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Houston

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

	Abu Dhabi	Houston
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$17.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$76
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$5.88
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$5.4
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$2.71
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$1390
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$1037
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$2766
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$2058
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$132
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$202
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$65.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	6.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$2714
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$1949
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$1.25
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$71.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$23.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$0.92
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$3
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$3.4
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$4.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$11.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$16.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$4.29
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.37
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$3.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$3.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$2.73
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$2.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$1.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$3.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$14.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$2.15
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$9.62
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$9.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$5.13
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$3.64
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$2.46
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$14.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$127
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$21.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$50.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$98.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$1470
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$18964

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 Houston

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Pasadena	$2182
25 km or 15 mi	Pearland	$2108
25 km or 16 mi	Missouri	$2087
27 km or 17 mi	Deer Park	$2196
29 km or 18 mi	Sugar Land	$2028
32 km or 20 mi	Spring	$2093
33 km or 21 mi	Friendswood	$2097
35 km or 22 mi	La Porte	$2232
40 km or 25 mi	Baytown	$2311
41 km or 25 mi	League	$2065
42 km or 26 mi	Alvin	$2056
47 km or 29 mi	Rosenberg	$2107
48 km or 30 mi	The Woodlands	$2698
59 km or 37 mi	Texas City	$2014
62 km or 38 mi	Conroe	$1799
76 km or 47 mi	Galveston	$1855
81 km or 50 mi	Lake Jackson	$2089
108 km or 67 mi	Huntsville	$2089
126 km or 78 mi	Beaumont	$1673
129 km or 80 mi	College Station	$1853
138 km or 86 mi	Bryan	$1944
140 km or 87 mi	Port Arthur	$1907
186 km or 115 mi	Lufkin	$1878
188 km or 117 mi	Victoria	$2215
203 km or 126 mi	Sulphur	$2037
215 km or 134 mi	Lake Charles	$1986
217 km or 135 mi	Nacogdoches	$1510
229 km or 142 mi	Pflugerville	$2218
234 km or 145 mi	Austin	$2455
236 km or 146 mi	Round Rock	$2163
239 km or 149 mi	Temple	$2134
242 km or 150 mi	Kyle	$2223
242 km or 150 mi	Georgetown	$2192
247 km or 153 mi	San Marcos	$2224
249 km or 155 mi	Cedar Park	$2244
250 km or 156 mi	Seguin	$2182
254 km or 158 mi	Leander	$2260
261 km or 162 mi	Waco	$2230
262 km or 163 mi	Harker Heights	$2044
264 km or 164 mi	New Braunfels	$2182