Abu Dhabi vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$1010
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$2467
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$555
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$956
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$325
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$35.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$512
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	51	8
😀 Quality of life	85	55
🏙️ Population	1.57M	77.6K

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 111% more expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 1650th and 5497th ($2133 vs $1010) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st 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 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.5 months in Phuket. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Phuket ranked 9th in Thailand, while ranked 424th and 6330th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$8.11	$5.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$40.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$9.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$2.46
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.14	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1728	$650
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$1157
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$761
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$96.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$3728
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$2603
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$1.53
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$23.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$11.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.87	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.59
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$19.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$3.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$11.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$3.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$2.3
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$2.17
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$19.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$1.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$4.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$3.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$2.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$53.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$7.75
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$29.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$64.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$97.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$565
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$13979

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 Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992