Al Ain vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Al Ain	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1844	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5338	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$1325	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$3717	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$349	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$57.1	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3607	$550
😷 Air quality	Bad	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	38	5
😀 Quality of life	75	34
🏙️ Population	767K	115K

The cost of living in Al Ain is 337% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 2271st and 8915th ($1844 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd 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 months in Al Ain compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Al Ain ranked 5th best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 1000th and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Al Ain vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Al Ain vs Thimphu

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

	Al Ain	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.12	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.64	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.46	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$5.02	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.61	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$668	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1309	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4401	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3318	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.3	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$76.1	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.33%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2055	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1218	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.44	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.05	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.72	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.08	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.86	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.36	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.67	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.16	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.19	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.1	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.4	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$64.6	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$32.4	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.2	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$640	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3802	$666

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	$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 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