Abu Dhabi vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$474
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$1052
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$203
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$302
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$158
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$81.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$218
😷 Air quality	Bad	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	53	30
😀 Quality of life	83	14
🏙️ Population	1.48M	4.27M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 286% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 2320th and 8769th ($1828 vs $474) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 3rd in the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.5 months in Kabul. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 438th and 9071st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Kabul infographic

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Kabul

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

	Abu Dhabi	Kabul
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$2.38
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$9.34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$4.64
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$3.11
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$1.53
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$0.32
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$140
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$90
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$312
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$141
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$66.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$59.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	18.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$404
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$202
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$18.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$7.27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$0.88
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$0.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$1.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$4.36
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$3.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$5.88
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$0.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$0.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.41
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.2
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$0.88
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$8.12
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.49
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$2.38
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$2.97
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$3.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.01
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$1.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$2.15
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$13.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$2.79
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$16.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$34.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$17.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$1356

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 Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$386
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$303
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$389
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$366
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$346
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$394
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$366
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$364
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$408
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$382
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$442
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$596
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$414
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$458
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$593
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$605
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$354
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$468
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$389
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$273
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$342
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$306
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$373
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$354
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$266
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$392
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$305
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$361
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$281
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$321
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$476