Abu Dhabi vs Karachi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Karachi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$442
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$1064
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$188
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$342
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$147
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$64.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$179
😷 Air quality	Bad	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	53	63
😀 Quality of life	83	50
🏙️ Population	1.48M	14.9M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 314% more expensive than in Karachi. Cities ranked 2320th and 8872nd ($1828 vs $442) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 3rd in the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.4 months in Karachi. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Karachi ranked 1st in Pakistan, while ranked 438th and 6253rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Karachi infographic

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Karachi

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

	Abu Dhabi	Karachi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$1.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$12
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$4.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$2.17
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$2.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$0.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$142
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$97.4
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$316
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$197
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$71.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$10.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	19.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$545
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$359
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$8.21
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$5.29
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$0.96
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$0.81
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$0.53
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$1.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$5.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$3.27
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$4.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$1.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$0.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.65
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.54
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.27
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$0.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$3.49
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.38
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$2.04
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$1.65
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$2.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$16.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$4.05
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$12.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$1.95
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$16.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$57.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$50.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$1405

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 Karachi

Distance	City	Cost of living
148 km or 92 mi	Hyderabad	$334
208 km or 129 mi	Nawabshah	$325
213 km or 132 mi	Mirpur Khas	$394
324 km or 201 mi	Larkana	$338
324 km or 201 mi	Bhuj	$288
366 km or 227 mi	Sukkur	$339
406 km or 252 mi	Jacobabad	$325
445 km or 277 mi	Porbandar	$333
480 km or 298 mi	Rajkot	$311
564 km or 351 mi	Mehsana	$389
593 km or 368 mi	Quetta	$266
601 km or 374 mi	Ahmedabad	$452
604 km or 375 mi	Gandhinagar	$415
626 km or 389 mi	Bhavnagar	$298
629 km or 391 mi	Jodhpur	$366
643 km or 399 mi	Pali	$324
643 km or 399 mi	Nadiad	$382
645 km or 401 mi	Chabahar	$585
675 km or 419 mi	Udaipur	$310
679 km or 422 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
683 km or 425 mi	Bahawalpur	$342
683 km or 425 mi	Iranshahr	$605
692 km or 430 mi	Vadodara	$376
711 km or 442 mi	Godhra	$371
719 km or 447 mi	Bikaner	$297
723 km or 449 mi	Surat	$771
736 km or 457 mi	Multan	$392
745 km or 463 mi	Navsari	$286
761 km or 473 mi	Kandahar	$468
769 km or 478 mi	Bhilwara	$340
775 km or 482 mi	Khanewal	$361
785 km or 488 mi	Ajmer	$279
792 km or 492 mi	Lashkargah	$476
796 km or 494 mi	Zahedan	$829
812 km or 504 mi	Burewala	$356
836 km or 519 mi	Ratlam	$311
845 km or 525 mi	Vasai	$284
865 km or 537 mi	Muscat	$1090
866 km or 538 mi	Sikar	$350
874 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$552