Abu Dhabi vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$1037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$2570
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$499
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$871
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$79.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$1394
😷 Air quality	Bad	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	53	70
😀 Quality of life	83	78
🏙️ Population	1.48M	1.4M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 76% more expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 2320th and 5261st ($1828 vs $1037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th 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 2.1 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.3 months in Sofia. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 438th and 723rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Sofia infographic

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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	$10.6	$9.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$8.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$2.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$1.59
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$500
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$979
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$663
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$85.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$132
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	3.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$3192
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$2153
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$25.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$7.59
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$0.94
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$8.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$2.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.98
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.46
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$7.58
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$3.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$3.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$2.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$33.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$7.97
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$39.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$99.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$538
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$6749

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	$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 Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$682
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$687
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$576
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$866
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$667
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$594
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$734
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$711
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$561
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$588
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$605
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$616
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$612
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$598
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$545
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$772
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$595
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$556
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$988
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$891
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$848
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$463
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$619
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$682
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$537
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$623
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$930
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$629
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$948
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$663
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1028
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1106
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$662
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$807
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$631
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$899
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$635
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$633