Abu Dhabi vs Nairobi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: July 09, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Nairobi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1915	$794
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4277	$2012
🏠 One person rent	$1247	$272
🏘️ Family rent	$2181	$459
🍽️ Food expenses	$451	$286
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.9	$177
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3000	$397
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	53	68
😀 Quality of life	84	60
🏙️ Population	1.57M	5.55M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 141% more expensive than in Nairobi. Cities ranked 2282nd and 6685th ($1915 vs $794) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in the United Arab Emirates and Kenya, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Kenya comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.5 months in Nairobi. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Nairobi ranked 1st in Kenya, while ranked 427th and 5617th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Nairobi infographic

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Nairobi

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

	Abu Dhabi	Nairobi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11	$5.44
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.8	$39
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.57	$6.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.4	$2.34
☕ Cappuccino	$5.73	$2.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.26	$0.74
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1359	$396
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$975	$163
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2488	$730
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1798	$299
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.2	$22.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$142	$34.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$103	$39.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.21%	14.85%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5745	$1965
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12613	$1108
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26	$31.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.64	$17
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.77	$1.46
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.02	$0.9
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$1.54
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.66	$1.68
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.57	$6.71
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$5.63
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$3.09
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.07
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.02
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.11
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.43	$0.54
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.35	$1.43
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$11.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.38	$2.23
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.22	$3.09
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.82	$2.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6	$3.71
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.71	$1.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.96	$1.14
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$67.1	$43
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.7	$6.51
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.4	$16
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$4.77
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.8	$17.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.4	$67.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$612	$210
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12182	$8899

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	$1713
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2512
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1383
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1450
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2504
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1081
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1215
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1455
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1762
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1688
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$631
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$794
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$995
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1205
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1240
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1226
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1116
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$537
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$1063
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1055
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$537
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$893
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$913
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$515
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$530
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$564
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$464
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$489
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$541
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$521
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$578
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$524
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$527
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$536
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$604
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$515
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1695
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1242
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$493

Cities near Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$611
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$418
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$501
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$559
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$594
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$519
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$537
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$540
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$513
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$597
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$624
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$541
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$580
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$561
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$602
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$537
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$635
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$692
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$553
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$503
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$533
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$568
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$467
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$782
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$598
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$688
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$601
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$768
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$686
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$539
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$514
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$791
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$491
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$687
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$410
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$691
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$689
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$590
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$479
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$776