Abu Dhabi vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$504
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$1114
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$211
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$298
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$177
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$78.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$146
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	51	33
😀 Quality of life	85	26
🏙️ Population	1.57M	5.33M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 324% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 1650th and 8650th ($2133 vs $504) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd 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 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.3 months in Kabul. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 424th and 8929th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$8.11	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$8.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$5.85
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$3.24
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$1.6
🥤 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	$126
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$83.1
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$223
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$145
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$31.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$49.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$88.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	12.73%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$664
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$14.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$6.58
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$1.03
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.87	$0.96
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$0.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.55
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$1.61
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$5.34
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$4.61
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$6.58
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$0.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$0.88
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$0.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$0.48
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.26
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$2.37
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$1.01
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$2.78
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$3.49
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$4.19
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$1.61
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$13.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$2.54
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$14.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$3.29
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$17.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$45.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$20.9
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$1302

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 Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$456
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$381
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$447
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$438
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$447
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$321
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$394
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$468
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$373
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$373
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$493
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$371
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$496
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$734
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$446
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$470
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$391
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$737
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$773
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$280
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$350
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$473
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$306
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$393
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$253
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$379
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$382
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$359
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$335
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$278
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$344
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$303
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$440
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$339
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$309
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$401
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$313
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$396
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$332
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$469