Al Ain vs Essen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Al Ain	Essen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1844	$1443
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5338	$3513
🏠 One person rent	$1325	$690
🏘️ Family rent	$3717	$1216
🍽️ Food expenses	$349	$461
🚐 Transport expenses	$57.1	$150
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3607	$2980
😷 Air quality	Bad	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	25 km
🎓 Higher education	38	96
😀 Quality of life	75	94
🏙️ Population	767K	587K

The cost of living in Al Ain is 28% more expensive than in Essen. Cities ranked 2271st and 3685th ($1844 vs $1443) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 413th in the United Arab Emirates and Germany, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Al Ain compared to 2.1 months in Essen. Al Ain ranked 5th best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Essen ranked 5th in Germany, while ranked 1000th and 33rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Al Ain vs Essen infographic

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Prices in Al Ain vs Essen

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

	Al Ain	Essen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.12	$13
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$49.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.64	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.46	$4.01
☕ Cappuccino	$5.02	$3.1
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.61	$2.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$668	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1309	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4401	$1177
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3318	$833
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.3	$180
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$274
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$76.1	$40.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.33%	3.97%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2055	$4052
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1218	$3401
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$3.43
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$56
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.44	$25.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.73
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$1.1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.05	$1.76
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$2.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.72	$3.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.08	$11.7
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.86	$18.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$2.74
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.62
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$2.18
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$3.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.49
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$1.61
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.36	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.85
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$6.49
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.67	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.16	$7.99
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.19	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.1	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$1.42
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$29.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.4	$13.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$64.6	$80.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$13.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$32.4	$89.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.2	$92.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$640	$417
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3802	$8902

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Al Ain

Distance	City	Cost of living
119 km or 74 mi	Fujairah	$1239
126 km or 78 mi	Dubai	$2379
133 km or 82 mi	Sharjah	$1494
135 km or 84 mi	Ajman	$2240
143 km or 89 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
152 km or 94 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
192 km or 119 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
221 km or 138 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
231 km or 143 mi	Nizwa	$780
253 km or 157 mi	Seeb	$967
297 km or 184 mi	Muscat	$1090
337 km or 209 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
442 km or 275 mi	Doha	$1779
458 km or 284 mi	Al Khor	$1709
507 km or 315 mi	Chabahar	$585
525 km or 326 mi	Jahrom	$547
535 km or 333 mi	Jiroft	$518
564 km or 351 mi	Riffa	$1223
565 km or 351 mi	Manama	$1280
566 km or 352 mi	Fasa	$548
567 km or 352 mi	Isa Town	$1243
583 km or 362 mi	Sirjan	$514
596 km or 371 mi	Iranshahr	$605
604 km or 375 mi	Bam	$515
607 km or 377 mi	Dhahran	$1068
619 km or 385 mi	Dammam	$1056
629 km or 391 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
649 km or 404 mi	Qatif	$897
679 km or 422 mi	Shiraz	$589
684 km or 425 mi	Jubail	$901
688 km or 428 mi	Kerman	$464
689 km or 428 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
694 km or 431 mi	Marvdasht	$563
720 km or 447 mi	Bushehr	$551
720 km or 447 mi	Borazjan	$546
726 km or 451 mi	Kazerun	$557
776 km or 482 mi	Zahedan	$829
818 km or 508 mi	Salalah	$809
827 km or 514 mi	Yasuj	$529
866 km or 538 mi	Yazd	$573

Cities near Essen

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.5 km or 5.9 mi	Gelsenkirchen	$1418
9.6 km or 6 mi	Mulheim	$1434
10 km or 6.3 mi	Bottrop	$1367
11 km or 7.1 mi	Oberhausen	$1485
12 km or 7.8 mi	Velbert	$1428
13 km or 8.3 mi	Hattingen	$1444
14 km or 8.4 mi	Gladbeck	$1422
14 km or 8.8 mi	Heiligenhaus	$1444
15 km or 9 mi	Bochum	$1486
18 km or 11 mi	Herne	$1559
18 km or 11 mi	Duisburg	$1314
19 km or 12 mi	Herten	$1438
19 km or 12 mi	Wulfrath	$1433
19 km or 12 mi	Sprockhovel	$1431
20 km or 13 mi	Ratingen	$1497
22 km or 14 mi	Witten	$1489
23 km or 14 mi	Recklinghausen	$1407
23 km or 14 mi	Mettmann	$1479
23 km or 14 mi	Dinslaken	$1430
24 km or 15 mi	Dorsten	$1430
24 km or 15 mi	Castrop-Rauxel	$1464
24 km or 15 mi	Wuppertal	$1233
25 km or 16 mi	Marl	$1435
26 km or 16 mi	Erkrath	$1516
27 km or 17 mi	Schwelm	$1404
27 km or 17 mi	Oer-Erkenschwick	$1432
27 km or 17 mi	Moers	$1439
27 km or 17 mi	Wetter	$1451
28 km or 17 mi	Gevelsberg	$1435
28 km or 18 mi	Voerde	$1434
28 km or 18 mi	Ennepetal	$1431
29 km or 18 mi	Haan	$1517
30 km or 18 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772
30 km or 18 mi	Herdecke	$1455
30 km or 19 mi	Rheinberg	$1435
31 km or 20 mi	Hilden	$1522
32 km or 20 mi	Neukirchen-Vluyn	$1445
32 km or 20 mi	Waltrop	$1459
32 km or 20 mi	Solingen	$1580
32 km or 20 mi	Datteln	$1448