Ashgabat vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Ashgabat	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1806	$473
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4178	$1051
🏠 One person rent	$887	$200
🏘️ Family rent	$1506	$280
🍽️ Food expenses	$763	$163
🚐 Transport expenses	$49.3	$75.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$635	$120
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	7	33
😀 Quality of life	48	25
🏙️ Population	1.03M	5.33M

The cost of living in Ashgabat is 282% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 2849th and 8823rd ($1806 vs $473) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, respectively. Check Turkmenistan vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Ashgabat compared to 0.3 months in Kabul. Ashgabat ranked 1st best city to live in Turkmenistan vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 6881st and 8992nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Ashgabat vs Kabul

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

	Ashgabat	Kabul
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$28.8	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$86.1	$9.56
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.9	$5.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.69	$2.79
☕ Cappuccino	$6.75	$1.38
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.82	$0.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1012	$108
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$667	$72.2
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1768	$196
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1221	$127
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.7	$35
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$74.5	$53.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$85.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.45%	12.8%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4069	$579
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2839	$300
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.14	$0.19
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.55	$12.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.63	$6.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.43	$1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$4.71	$0.92
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.94	$0.25
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.24	$1.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.15	$1.57
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.23	$4.77
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.2	$4.05
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$22.5	$6.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.06	$0.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$0.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.48	$0.85
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.72	$0.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$0.45
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.25
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.07	$1.02
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.9	$2.07
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.21	$0.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$25.5	$2.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$3.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.88	$3.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.02	$1.16
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.81	$1.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.8	$11.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.3	$2.45
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.3	$15.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$3.13
👖 Brand Jeans	$65.6	$15.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.4	$39.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$22.9	$20.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24723	$1540

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	$1763
95 km or 59 mi	Quchan	$501
99 km or 61 mi	Baherden	$1769
107 km or 66 mi	Bojnord	$487
197 km or 123 mi	Nishapur	$496
203 km or 126 mi	Sabzevar	$510
212 km or 132 mi	Mashhad	$498
294 km or 183 mi	Gonbad-e Kavus	$466
302 km or 187 mi	Kashmar	$507
306 km or 190 mi	Mary	$1640
307 km or 191 mi	Torbat-e Heydarieh	$501
344 km or 213 mi	Shahrud	$563
361 km or 224 mi	Torbat-e Jam	$494
367 km or 228 mi	Gorgan	$659
451 km or 280 mi	Dasoguz	$1755
469 km or 291 mi	Turkmenabat	$1709
496 km or 308 mi	Sari	$635
513 km or 318 mi	Nukus	$468
516 km or 321 mi	Qaem Shahr	$502
517 km or 321 mi	Semnan	$535
524 km or 325 mi	Herat	$532
528 km or 328 mi	Babol	$372
558 km or 347 mi	Amol	$531
561 km or 349 mi	Bukhara	$436
570 km or 354 mi	Birjand	$589
634 km or 394 mi	Pardis	$575
654 km or 406 mi	Qarshi	$513
657 km or 408 mi	Pakdasht	$583
660 km or 410 mi	Golestan	$592
667 km or 414 mi	Sheberghan	$457
668 km or 415 mi	Qarchak	$586
668 km or 415 mi	Tehran	$639
670 km or 417 mi	Varamin	$571
671 km or 417 mi	Ray	$591
693 km or 431 mi	Qods	$631
694 km or 431 mi	Eslamshahr	$602
695 km or 432 mi	Nasimshahr	$601
700 km or 435 mi	Shahriar	$627
701 km or 435 mi	Karaj	$696
703 km or 437 mi	Fardis	$639

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$433
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$368
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$425
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$423
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$429
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$454
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$370
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$369
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$488
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$360
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$464
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$704
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$427
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$457
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$381
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$702
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$735
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$279
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$338
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$463
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$302
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$378
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$264
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$367
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$371
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$348
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$330
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$257
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$353
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$298
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$417
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$318
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$382
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$308
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$379
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$326
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$467