Abu Dhabi vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$3111
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$519
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$1664
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$29.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$718
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	53	7
😀 Quality of life	83	53
🏙️ Population	1.48M	77.6K

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 94% more expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 2320th and 5827th ($1828 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in the United Arab Emirates and Thailand, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.8 months in Phuket. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Phuket ranked 7th in Thailand, while ranked 438th and 6063rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Phuket infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/abu-dhabi/phuket.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Phuket infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/abu-dhabi/phuket" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Phuket

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

	Abu Dhabi	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$5.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$36
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$7.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$2.68
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$2.39
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$504
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$403
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$1891
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$1436
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$79.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$16.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	6.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$4059
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$2821
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$1.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$1.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$1.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$20.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$3.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$3.05
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.33
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.44
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$4.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$3.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$2.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$1.4
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$56.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$8.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$28.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$98.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$723
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$13013

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$792
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$782
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$563
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$763
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$560
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$570
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$705
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$730
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$777
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$490
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$620
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$619
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$461
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$695
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$628
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$481
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$470
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$576
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$656
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$752
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$781
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$670
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$645
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$755
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$677
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$743
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810