Al Ain vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Al Ain	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1449	$1244
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3246	$3082
🏠 One person rent	$889	$629
🏘️ Family rent	$1511	$1103
🍽️ Food expenses	$388	$406
🚐 Transport expenses	$58.3	$92.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3712	$1061
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	38	70
😀 Quality of life	82	78
🏙️ Population	767K	1.4M

The cost of living in Al Ain is 16% more expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 4123rd and 4611th ($1449 vs $1244) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th 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 2.6 months in Al Ain compared to 0.9 months in Sofia. Al Ain ranked 5th best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 588th and 1070th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Al Ain vs Sofia infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/al-ain/sofia.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Al Ain vs Sofia infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/al-ain/sofia" target="_blank">Al Ain vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

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	$9.58	$11.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.5	$50.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.34	$9.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.42	$2.98
☕ Cappuccino	$5.14	$2.59
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.77	$1.7
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$791	$661
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$706	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1459	$1209
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1265	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.8	$94.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$147
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$90.3	$14.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.02%	3.03%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2045	$3978
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1226	$2572
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.95
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$24.6	$29.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.17	$9.21
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.53
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$1.9
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.4	$1.26
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.23	$3.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.3	$12.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.89	$8.26
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.08	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.41	$1.85
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.91
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.87
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$0.93
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.55	$1.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.7	$7.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.45	$1.03
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.58	$3.89
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.23	$11.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.14	$3.43
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$2.05
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$3.13
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$51	$43.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.2	$10.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$63.5	$44.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.38	$11.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.3	$71.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$72.8	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$602	$659
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5433	$9717

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Al Ain

Distance	City	Cost of living
119 km or 74 mi	Fujairah	$1228
126 km or 78 mi	Dubai	$2514
133 km or 82 mi	Sharjah	$1419
135 km or 84 mi	Ajman	$2521
143 km or 89 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
152 km or 94 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
192 km or 119 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
221 km or 138 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
231 km or 143 mi	Nizwa	$792
253 km or 157 mi	Seeb	$1078
297 km or 184 mi	Muscat	$1081
337 km or 209 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
442 km or 275 mi	Doha	$1849
458 km or 284 mi	Al Khor	$1770
507 km or 315 mi	Chabahar	$573
525 km or 326 mi	Jahrom	$530
535 km or 333 mi	Jiroft	$568
564 km or 351 mi	Riffa	$1201
565 km or 351 mi	Manama	$1237
566 km or 352 mi	Fasa	$529
567 km or 352 mi	Isa Town	$1230
583 km or 362 mi	Sirjan	$534
596 km or 371 mi	Iranshahr	$624
604 km or 375 mi	Bam	$557
607 km or 377 mi	Dhahran	$908
619 km or 385 mi	Dammam	$1008
629 km or 391 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
649 km or 404 mi	Qatif	$873
679 km or 422 mi	Shiraz	$553
684 km or 425 mi	Jubail	$930
688 km or 428 mi	Kerman	$761
689 km or 428 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
694 km or 431 mi	Marvdasht	$530
720 km or 447 mi	Bushehr	$453
720 km or 447 mi	Borazjan	$477
726 km or 451 mi	Kazerun	$503
776 km or 482 mi	Zahedan	$808
818 km or 508 mi	Salalah	$817
827 km or 514 mi	Yasuj	$463
866 km or 538 mi	Yazd	$545

Cities near Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$730
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$766
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$707
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$854
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$776
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$667
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$836
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$819
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$575
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$642
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$668
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$702
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$670
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$643
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$572
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$849
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$655
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$595
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$1080
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$964
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$909
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$703
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$752
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$557
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$678
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$720
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$592
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$675
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$996
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$692
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$1048
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$699
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1091
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1225
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$828
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$918
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$591
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$1013
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$667
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$777