Abu Dhabi vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2070	$2844
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4485	$6700
🏠 One person rent	$1417	$1749
🏘️ Family rent	$2400	$3002
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$597
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.3	$337
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2675	$4145
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	51	99
😀 Quality of life	85	98
🏙️ Population	1.57M	5.45M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 27% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 1859th and 348th ($2070 vs $2844) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in the United Arab Emirates and Australia, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.5 months in Sydney. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 447th and 2nd 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 Sydney

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

	Abu Dhabi	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.29	$15.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68.6	$79.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.56	$11.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$7.36
☕ Cappuccino	$5.55	$3.85
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.15	$2.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1520	$2123
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1151	$1437
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2679	$3835
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2026	$2492
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.7	$123
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$190
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$97.1	$51.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.26%	6.09%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4936	$13218
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10145	$7866
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$3.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$118
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.58	$20.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$1.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.62	$2.46
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$2.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.36	$5.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$13.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.91	$9.78
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$3.56
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$3.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$3.24
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$4.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$2.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$2.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.82
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.45	$2.8
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$15.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.38	$4.69
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.2	$24.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.82	$9.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.05	$4.93
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.75	$3.1
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5	$3.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.9	$63.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$16.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$79.6	$70.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$21.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.9	$80.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.2	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$649	$2281
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13889	$21946

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 Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2379
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2482
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$2050
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1710
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1695
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1997
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1699
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1821
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1477
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2223
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1867
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1288
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1824
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1815
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1979
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2528
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2352
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1896
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1860
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1487
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1894
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1813
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1829
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2496
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1928
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1889
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1906
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2269
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1822
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1988
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2217
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1604
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1864