Ashgabat vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Ashgabat	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1584	$906
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3634	$2335
🏠 One person rent	$798	$471
🏘️ Family rent	$1502	$1016
🍽️ Food expenses	$609	$307
🚐 Transport expenses	$49.1	$44.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$718	$407
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	7	43
😀 Quality of life	29	56
🏙️ Population	1.03M	1.4M

The cost of living in Ashgabat is 75% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 3105th and 6004th ($1584 vs $906) 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 0.5 months in Ashgabat compared to 0.4 months in Ulaanbaatar. Ashgabat ranked 1st best city to live in Turkmenistan vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 8250th and 5778th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Ashgabat vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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<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	$25.9	$4.74
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$60.4	$29.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.1	$5.27
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.4	$1.62
☕ Cappuccino	$5.56	$2.59
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.25	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$884	$503
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$607	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1501	$1382
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1302	$815
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$45.2	$45.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$70	$70.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$90.5	$17.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.58%	6.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3897	$1765
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3006	$978
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.14	$0.15
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.52	$8.74
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.74	$5.26
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.38	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$3	$1.45
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.35	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.49	$1.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.83	$2.18
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.29	$13.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.83	$4.98
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.9	$5.77
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.02	$3.44
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.81	$4.43
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.06	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$0.71
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.95
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.74	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.08	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$27.3	$9.15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.79	$1.14
🚬 Cigarette pack	$25.2	$1.76
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.01	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.8	$3.74
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3	$2.59
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.77	$1.89
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$112	$63.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.7	$4.41
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.8	$20
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.36	$4.81
👖 Brand Jeans	$69.9	$65.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.4	$90.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$22.7	$175
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6132	$6410

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	$1553
95 km or 59 mi	Quchan	$515
99 km or 61 mi	Baherden	$1541
107 km or 66 mi	Bojnord	$510
197 km or 123 mi	Nishapur	$509
203 km or 126 mi	Sabzevar	$524
212 km or 132 mi	Mashhad	$508
294 km or 183 mi	Gonbad-e Kavus	$495
302 km or 187 mi	Kashmar	$521
306 km or 190 mi	Mary	$1503
307 km or 191 mi	Torbat-e Heydarieh	$521
344 km or 213 mi	Shahrud	$598
361 km or 224 mi	Torbat-e Jam	$550
367 km or 228 mi	Gorgan	$685
451 km or 280 mi	Dasoguz	$1535
469 km or 291 mi	Turkmenabat	$1523
496 km or 308 mi	Sari	$658
513 km or 318 mi	Nukus	$392
516 km or 321 mi	Qaem Shahr	$554
517 km or 321 mi	Semnan	$580
524 km or 325 mi	Herat	$512
528 km or 328 mi	Babol	$458
558 km or 347 mi	Amol	$557
561 km or 349 mi	Bukhara	$431
570 km or 354 mi	Birjand	$574
634 km or 394 mi	Pardis	$665
654 km or 406 mi	Qarshi	$484
657 km or 408 mi	Pakdasht	$680
660 km or 410 mi	Golestan	$714
667 km or 414 mi	Sheberghan	$414
668 km or 415 mi	Qarchak	$681
668 km or 415 mi	Tehran	$788
670 km or 417 mi	Varamin	$651
671 km or 417 mi	Ray	$710
693 km or 431 mi	Qods	$698
694 km or 431 mi	Eslamshahr	$700
695 km or 432 mi	Nasimshahr	$697
700 km or 435 mi	Shahriar	$698
701 km or 435 mi	Karaj	$736
703 km or 437 mi	Fardis	$688

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