Ashgabat vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Ashgabat	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1898	$935
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4362	$2240
🏠 One person rent	$968	$481
🏘️ Family rent	$1668	$841
🍽️ Food expenses	$780	$314
🚐 Transport expenses	$50.9	$46.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$210	$589
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	7	44
😀 Quality of life	43	64
🏙️ Population	1.03M	1.4M

The cost of living in Ashgabat is 103% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 2383rd and 6046th ($1898 vs $935) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Turkmenistan and Mongolia, respectively. Check Turkmenistan vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.1 months in Ashgabat compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Ashgabat ranked 1st best city to live in Turkmenistan vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 7430th and 5297th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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

Prices in Ashgabat vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Ashgabat	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$31.1	$5.63
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85	$31.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$5.65
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.76	$2.39
☕ Cappuccino	$6.83	$2.37
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.58	$0.85
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1017	$522
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$765	$399
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1798	$962
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1413	$710
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$49	$43.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$74.9	$67.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$13.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.58%	8.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3536	$1954
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2856	$961
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.14	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.87	$10.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.74	$4.99
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.43	$1.03
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$4.53	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.03	$0.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.85	$2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.02	$2.14
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.31	$11.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20	$4.95
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.1	$6.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.09	$3.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$2.48
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.47	$3.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.64	$3.1
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$0.73
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.13
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.74	$0.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.09	$1.18
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.1	$9.81
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.18	$1.54
🚬 Cigarette pack	$25.7	$1.77
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.88	$9.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.83	$3.66
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.04	$2.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.82	$1.81
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.7	$75.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.2	$4.18
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$19.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.36	$4.81
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$82.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.6	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$22.7	$217
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24585	$8817

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	$1846
95 km or 59 mi	Quchan	$475
99 km or 61 mi	Baherden	$1864
107 km or 66 mi	Bojnord	$466
197 km or 123 mi	Nishapur	$469
203 km or 126 mi	Sabzevar	$483
212 km or 132 mi	Mashhad	$482
294 km or 183 mi	Gonbad-e Kavus	$458
302 km or 187 mi	Kashmar	$483
306 km or 190 mi	Mary	$1726
307 km or 191 mi	Torbat-e Heydarieh	$476
344 km or 213 mi	Shahrud	$561
361 km or 224 mi	Torbat-e Jam	$467
367 km or 228 mi	Gorgan	$664
451 km or 280 mi	Dasoguz	$1840
469 km or 291 mi	Turkmenabat	$1795
496 km or 308 mi	Sari	$612
513 km or 318 mi	Nukus	$475
516 km or 321 mi	Qaem Shahr	$474
517 km or 321 mi	Semnan	$523
524 km or 325 mi	Herat	$556
528 km or 328 mi	Babol	$359
558 km or 347 mi	Amol	$516
561 km or 349 mi	Bukhara	$439
570 km or 354 mi	Birjand	$542
634 km or 394 mi	Pardis	$563
654 km or 406 mi	Qarshi	$500
657 km or 408 mi	Pakdasht	$570
660 km or 410 mi	Golestan	$584
667 km or 414 mi	Sheberghan	$470
668 km or 415 mi	Qarchak	$570
668 km or 415 mi	Tehran	$638
670 km or 417 mi	Varamin	$557
671 km or 417 mi	Ray	$584
693 km or 431 mi	Qods	$614
694 km or 431 mi	Eslamshahr	$590
695 km or 432 mi	Nasimshahr	$587
700 km or 435 mi	Shahriar	$611
701 km or 435 mi	Karaj	$684
703 km or 437 mi	Fardis	$616

Cities near Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$904
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$739
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$778
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$776
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$863
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$656
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$1039
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$721
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$693
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$578
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$665
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1426
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$691
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$658
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$676
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$568
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$820
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$789
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$680
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$639
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$684
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$607
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$577
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$629
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$594
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$593
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$618
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$503
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$570
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$509
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$653
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$492
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$580
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$433
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$722
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$594
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$627
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1108
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$460
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$672