Abu Dhabi vs Medina - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Medina
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$1164
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$2338
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$659
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$843
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$1337
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	51	23
😀 Quality of life	85	69
🏙️ Population	1.57M	1.41M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 83% more expensive than in Medina. Cities ranked 1650th and 4843rd ($2133 vs $1164) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 3rd in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.1 months in Medina. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Medina ranked 6th in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 424th and 4103rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Medina

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

	Abu Dhabi	Medina
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.11	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$31.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$8.01
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$1.61
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$2.65
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.14	$0.77
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1728	$508
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$472
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$772
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$574
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$91.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$141
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$88.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	4.04%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$2810
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$1336
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$1.08
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$37
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$14.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$0.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.87	$1.48
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$2.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$2.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$5.33
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$7.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$12.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$2.42
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.96
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$2.31
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$1.34
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.87
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$1.32
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$7.43
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$5.21
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$3.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$1.32
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$3.18
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$78.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$13.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$25.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$2.76
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$37.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$67.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$291
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$5520

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 Medina

Distance	City	Cost of living
168 km or 104 mi	Yanbu	$791
328 km or 204 mi	Jeddah	$1210
339 km or 211 mi	Mecca	$1031
378 km or 235 mi	Al Wajh	$919
398 km or 247 mi	Ha'il	$738
422 km or 262 mi	Ar Rass	$834
477 km or 296 mi	Unaizah	$938
531 km or 330 mi	Tabuk	$1036
585 km or 363 mi	Bisha	$890
593 km or 368 mi	Port Sudan	$976
595 km or 370 mi	Dumat al-Jandal	$771
615 km or 382 mi	Sakakah	$753
650 km or 404 mi	Sharm El Sheikh	$555
657 km or 408 mi	Hurghada	$334
661 km or 411 mi	Bareq	$873
675 km or 419 mi	El Gouna	$338
676 km or 420 mi	Dahab	$429
680 km or 423 mi	Aswan	$350
714 km or 444 mi	Luxor	$379
717 km or 446 mi	Qena	$439
719 km or 447 mi	Riyadh	$1628
723 km or 449 mi	Aqaba	$818
729 km or 453 mi	Eilat	$2054
742 km or 461 mi	Ma'an	$856
757 km or 470 mi	Abha	$871
758 km or 471 mi	As Sulayyil	$993
810 km or 503 mi	Tafilah	$686
827 km or 514 mi	Sohag	$375
839 km or 522 mi	Al-Karak	$742
861 km or 535 mi	Dimona	$2014
870 km or 540 mi	Arad	$1933
890 km or 553 mi	Beersheba	$1810
896 km or 557 mi	Asyut	$264
901 km or 560 mi	Hebron	$977
902 km or 561 mi	Dura	$1149
902 km or 561 mi	Ofakim	$2038
905 km or 562 mi	Rahat	$2060
906 km or 563 mi	Amman	$1032
907 km or 564 mi	Najran	$864
913 km or 567 mi	Bethlehem	$1077