Abu Dhabi vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2070	$1329
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4485	$3277
🏠 One person rent	$1417	$682
🏘️ Family rent	$2400	$1187
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$435
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.3	$88.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2675	$1229
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	51	71
😀 Quality of life	85	78
🏙️ Population	1.57M	1.21M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 56% more expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 1859th and 4516th ($2070 vs $1329) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Bulgaria comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.9 months in Sofia. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 447th and 995th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Sofia

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

	Abu Dhabi	Sofia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.29	$12.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68.6	$54.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.56	$10.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$3.18
☕ Cappuccino	$5.55	$2.91
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.15	$1.94
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1520	$702
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1151	$541
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2679	$1253
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2026	$971
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.7	$95
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$145
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$97.1	$14.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.26%	2.98%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4936	$4234
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10145	$2831
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.97
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$29.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.58	$9.47
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.47
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$1.95
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.62	$1.46
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$2.26
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.36	$3.81
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$12.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.91	$8.81
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$14.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$2.04
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$2.06
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.87
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$0.95
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.45	$1.81
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$7.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.38	$1.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.2	$4.25
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.82	$12.7
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.05	$3.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.75	$2.09
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5	$3.13
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.9	$46.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$10.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$79.6	$45
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$11.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.9	$81.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.2	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$649	$698
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13889	$11223

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	$1710
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2420
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1473
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1457
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2183
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1148
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1214
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1373
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$2014
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1923
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$635
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$796
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1080
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1109
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1309
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1192
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1135
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$545
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$931
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1037
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$793
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$541
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$823
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$928
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$545
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$575
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$565
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$465
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$489
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$547
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$523
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$575
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$563
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$613
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$761
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$627
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$487
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1632
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1281
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$492

Cities near Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$713
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$763
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$717
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$871
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$787
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$704
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$878
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$857
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$617
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$680
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$683
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$733
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$705
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$665
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$593
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$887
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$694
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$619
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$1108
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$1002
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$983
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$716
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$759
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$571
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$708
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$769
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$609
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$695
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$1031
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$724
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$1069
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$759
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1122
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1272
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$851
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$948
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$607
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$1041
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$678
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$784