Abu Dhabi vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$2844
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$6812
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$1756
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$3107
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$592
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$335
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$4188
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	51	99
😀 Quality of life	85	100
🏙️ Population	1.57M	5.45M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 25% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 1650th and 370th ($2133 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 424th and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$8.11	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$81.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$11.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$7.3
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$3.97
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.14	$2.71
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1728	$2215
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$1420
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$3992
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$2582
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$126
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$193
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	5.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$12962
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$7403
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$3.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$117
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$20.2
⛽ 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	$2.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$2.09
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$5.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$13.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$9.72
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$15.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$3.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$3.08
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$3.19
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$4.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$2.9
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$2.27
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.72
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$2.95
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$4.08
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$28.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$8.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$4.65
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$3.58
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$3.34
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$66
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$17.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$70
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$21.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$77.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$2275
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$25164

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 Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2354
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2481
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$2040
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1709
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1695
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1995
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1701
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1795
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1460
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2258
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1855
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1273
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1825
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1816
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2672
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$2000
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2530
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2341
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1936
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1915
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1493
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1720
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1913
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1825
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1834
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2543
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1933
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1889
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1896
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2323
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1813
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1992
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2179
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1606
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1863