Al Ain vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Al Ain	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1844	$1037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5338	$2570
🏠 One person rent	$1325	$499
🏘️ Family rent	$3717	$871
🍽️ Food expenses	$349	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$57.1	$79.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3607	$1394
😷 Air quality	Bad	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	38	70
😀 Quality of life	75	78
🏙️ Population	767K	1.4M

The cost of living in Al Ain is 78% more expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 2271st and 5261st ($1844 vs $1037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd 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 months in Al Ain compared to 1.3 months in Sofia. Al Ain ranked 5th best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 1000th and 723rd 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 Sofia infographic

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Prices in Al Ain vs Sofia

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

	Al Ain	Sofia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.12	$9.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.64	$8.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.46	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$5.02	$2.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.61	$1.59
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$668	$500
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1309	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4401	$979
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3318	$663
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.3	$85.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$132
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$76.1	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.33%	3.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2055	$3192
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1218	$2153
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$25.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.44	$7.59
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.05	$0.94
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.72	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.08	$8.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.86	$12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$2.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$0.98
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.36	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.46
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$7.58
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.67	$1.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.16	$3.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.19	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.1	$3.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$2.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$33.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.4	$7.97
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$64.6	$39.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$32.4	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.2	$99.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$640	$538
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3802	$6749

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 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