Almaty vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Almaty	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$906
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2223	$2335
🏠 One person rent	$464	$471
🏘️ Family rent	$873	$1016
🍽️ Food expenses	$270	$307
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.5	$44.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$673	$407
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	51	43
😀 Quality of life	66	56
🏙️ Population	2.23M	1.4M

The cost of living in Almaty is 3% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 6143rd and 6004th ($881 vs $906) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Kazakhstan and Mongolia, respectively. Check Kazakhstan vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.8 months in Almaty compared to 0.4 months in Ulaanbaatar. Almaty ranked 1st best city to live in Kazakhstan vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 4016th and 5778th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Almaty vs Ulaanbaatar 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/almaty/ulaanbaatar.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Almaty vs Ulaanbaatar infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/almaty/ulaanbaatar" target="_blank">Almaty vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Almaty vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Almaty	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.16	$4.74
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27.7	$29.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.69	$5.27
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.1	$1.62
☕ Cappuccino	$2.5	$2.59
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.95	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$570	$503
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$375	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1064	$1382
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$737	$815
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.8	$45.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$58	$70.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12.1	$17.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.12%	6.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1799	$1765
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1128	$978
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.24	$0.15
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.1	$8.74
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.77	$5.26
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.5	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.39	$1.45
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.59	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$1.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.79	$2.18
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$13.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.82	$4.98
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$5.77
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$3.44
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$2.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$4.43
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$0.71
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.4	$0.95
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.46	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.52	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.12	$9.15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.96	$1.14
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.74	$1.76
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.87	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.59	$3.74
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.49	$2.59
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.72	$1.89
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.7	$63.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.81	$4.41
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18.2	$20
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.03	$4.81
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.3	$65.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.9	$90.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$265	$175
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12609	$6410

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Almaty

Distance	City	Cost of living
23 km or 14 mi	Kaskelen	$785
68 km or 42 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$652
72 km or 45 mi	Kapchagay	$749
139 km or 86 mi	Tokmok	$667
171 km or 107 mi	Kant	$674
194 km or 121 mi	Bishkek	$713
215 km or 134 mi	Naryn	$637
229 km or 142 mi	Taldiqorgan	$553
357 km or 222 mi	Toktogul	$607
360 km or 224 mi	Aksu	$610
363 km or 226 mi	Yining	$543
389 km or 242 mi	Talas	$623
398 km or 247 mi	Artux	$619
413 km or 256 mi	Jalal-Abad	$538
427 km or 265 mi	Balkhash	$624
429 km or 267 mi	Kashgar	$634
451 km or 280 mi	Taraz	$441
452 km or 281 mi	Bole	$531
455 km or 283 mi	Osh	$477
471 km or 293 mi	Andijan	$430
472 km or 293 mi	Aral	$601
499 km or 310 mi	Namangan	$538
529 km or 329 mi	Margilan	$591
530 km or 329 mi	Fergana	$626
605 km or 376 mi	Shymkent	$569
631 km or 392 mi	Konibodom	$613
633 km or 393 mi	Chirchiq	$444
633 km or 393 mi	Tacheng	$512
637 km or 396 mi	Wusu	$562
655 km or 407 mi	Kuytun	$571
664 km or 413 mi	Tashkent	$853
670 km or 417 mi	Istiklol	$613
679 km or 422 mi	Kentau	$501
683 km or 424 mi	Ghafurov	$614
684 km or 425 mi	Karamay	$460
685 km or 425 mi	Buston	$615
688 km or 427 mi	Khujand	$623
701 km or 435 mi	Turkistan	$512
731 km or 454 mi	Hotan	$627
742 km or 461 mi	Shihezi	$662

Cities near Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$879
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$616
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$770
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$624
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$651
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$612
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$979
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$660
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$648
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$563
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$620
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1339
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$651
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$639
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$616
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$470
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$781
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$703
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$634
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$603
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$624
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$588
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$549
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$566
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$592
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$469
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$550
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$469
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$623
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$458
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$555
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$403
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$711
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$586
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1016
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$426
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$598