Abu Dhabi vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$550
😷 Air quality	Bad	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	53	5
😀 Quality of life	83	34
🏙️ Population	1.48M	115K

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 333% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 2320th and 8915th ($1828 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in the United Arab Emirates and Bhutan, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Bhutan 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 Thimphu. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 438th and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Thimphu infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/abu-dhabi/thimphu.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Thimphu infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/abu-dhabi/thimphu" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Thimphu

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

	Abu Dhabi	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$666

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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$459
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$312
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$296
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$296
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$900
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$317
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$309
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$342
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$323
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$335
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$307
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$963
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$300
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$280
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$408
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$308
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$264
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$292
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$305
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$292
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$304
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$295
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$297
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$419
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$341
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$430
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$367
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$309
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$294
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$281
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$321
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$289
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$294
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$316
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$292
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$299
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$300