Ashgabat vs Chisinau - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Ashgabat	Chisinau
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1833	$947
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4223	$2238
🏠 One person rent	$893	$528
🏘️ Family rent	$1483	$908
🍽️ Food expenses	$782	$290
🚐 Transport expenses	$49.8	$39.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$747	$346
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	7	51
😀 Quality of life	49	59
🏙️ Population	1.03M	639K

The cost of living in Ashgabat is 94% more expensive than in Chisinau. Cities ranked 2595th and 5968th ($1833 vs $947) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Turkmenistan and Moldova, respectively. Check Turkmenistan vs Moldova comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Ashgabat compared to 0.4 months in Chisinau. Ashgabat ranked 1st best city to live in Turkmenistan vs Chisinau ranked 1st in Moldova, while ranked 6667th and 6039th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Ashgabat vs Chisinau

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

	Ashgabat	Chisinau
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$31.3	$8.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.3	$32.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$7.81
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.48	$1.92
☕ Cappuccino	$7.08	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.16	$0.87
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1020	$521
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$674	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1780	$961
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1190	$677
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.3	$107
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.2	$165
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$9.23
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.49%	8.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4806	$2427
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2978	$1691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.14	$0.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.51	$13.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.77	$4.39
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.43	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$4.77	$1.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.69	$0.53
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.3	$1.11
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.17	$2.69
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.26	$9.56
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.7	$5.76
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.4	$8.96
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.44	$0.91
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.58	$1.88
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$2.03
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$0.79
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$0.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.57
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.1	$1.78
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.1	$5.83
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.69	$1.28
🚬 Cigarette pack	$25.7	$3.24
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.19	$6.08
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.85	$5.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3	$1.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.81	$2.07
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.2	$36.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.3	$7.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$33.8	$20.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.4	$4.14
👖 Brand Jeans	$65.8	$61.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.9	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$23	$405
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25686	$7015

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Ashgabat

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.2 mi	Anau	$1774
95 km or 59 mi	Quchan	$500
99 km or 61 mi	Baherden	$1796
107 km or 66 mi	Bojnord	$489
197 km or 123 mi	Nishapur	$496
203 km or 126 mi	Sabzevar	$512
212 km or 132 mi	Mashhad	$503
294 km or 183 mi	Gonbad-e Kavus	$467
302 km or 187 mi	Kashmar	$506
306 km or 190 mi	Mary	$1654
307 km or 191 mi	Torbat-e Heydarieh	$502
344 km or 213 mi	Shahrud	$564
361 km or 224 mi	Torbat-e Jam	$493
367 km or 228 mi	Gorgan	$658
451 km or 280 mi	Dasoguz	$1770
469 km or 291 mi	Turkmenabat	$1716
496 km or 308 mi	Sari	$643
513 km or 318 mi	Nukus	$477
516 km or 321 mi	Qaem Shahr	$501
517 km or 321 mi	Semnan	$542
524 km or 325 mi	Herat	$509
528 km or 328 mi	Babol	$372
558 km or 347 mi	Amol	$530
561 km or 349 mi	Bukhara	$433
570 km or 354 mi	Birjand	$588
634 km or 394 mi	Pardis	$598
654 km or 406 mi	Qarshi	$512
657 km or 408 mi	Pakdasht	$604
660 km or 410 mi	Golestan	$628
667 km or 414 mi	Sheberghan	$432
668 km or 415 mi	Qarchak	$607
668 km or 415 mi	Tehran	$684
670 km or 417 mi	Varamin	$588
671 km or 417 mi	Ray	$622
693 km or 431 mi	Qods	$638
694 km or 431 mi	Eslamshahr	$623
695 km or 432 mi	Nasimshahr	$624
700 km or 435 mi	Shahriar	$635
701 km or 435 mi	Karaj	$704
703 km or 437 mi	Fardis	$640

Cities near Chisinau

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Dubasari	$884
42 km or 26 mi	Orhei	$921
51 km or 32 mi	Bender	$670
61 km or 38 mi	Tiraspol	$546
80 km or 50 mi	Comrat	$901
83 km or 52 mi	Ungheni	$1164
95 km or 59 mi	Vaslui	$804
98 km or 61 mi	Iasi	$964
109 km or 68 mi	Balti	$793
126 km or 79 mi	Barlad	$797
132 km or 82 mi	Cahul	$926
135 km or 84 mi	Soroca	$879
146 km or 91 mi	Roman	$659
154 km or 96 mi	Odesa	$624
155 km or 96 mi	Bacau	$724
184 km or 115 mi	Botosani	$815
187 km or 116 mi	Galati	$895
189 km or 117 mi	Piatra Neamt	$711
194 km or 121 mi	Focsani	$898
202 km or 125 mi	Tulcea	$854
205 km or 127 mi	Braila	$871
209 km or 130 mi	Suceava	$830
238 km or 148 mi	Mykolaiv	$516
250 km or 155 mi	Vinnytsia	$603
259 km or 161 mi	Buzau	$857
261 km or 162 mi	Chernivtsi	$545
267 km or 166 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
288 km or 179 mi	Kherson	$420
292 km or 181 mi	Brasov	$1056
295 km or 183 mi	Slobozia	$762
302 km or 187 mi	Khmelnytskyi	$535
305 km or 189 mi	Kropyvnytskyi	$616
307 km or 191 mi	Mamaia	$1024
315 km or 196 mi	Constanta	$1103
317 km or 197 mi	Ploiesti	$885
324 km or 201 mi	Bila Tserkva	$497
331 km or 206 mi	Targu Mures	$749
332 km or 206 mi	Bistrita	$703
334 km or 207 mi	Calarasi	$775
348 km or 216 mi	Voluntari	$970