Asmara vs Islamabad - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Asmara	Islamabad
🚶 Cost of living one person	$520	$442
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1283	$1170
🏠 One person rent	$224	$199
🏘️ Family rent	$430	$457
🍽️ Food expenses	$202	$156
🚐 Transport expenses	$45.9	$34.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$389	$261
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	26 km
🎓 Higher education	8	69
😀 Quality of life	27	49
🏙️ Population	963K	1.01M

The cost of living in Asmara is 18% more expensive than in Islamabad. Cities ranked 8486th and 8870th ($520 vs $442) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Eritrea and Pakistan, respectively. Check Eritrea vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Asmara compared to 0.6 months in Islamabad. Asmara ranked 1st best city to live in Eritrea vs Islamabad ranked 2nd in Pakistan, while ranked 8455th and 6313th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Asmara vs Islamabad infographic

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Prices in Asmara vs Islamabad

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

	Asmara	Islamabad
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.04	$2.13
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.8	$17.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.54	$5.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$1.79
☕ Cappuccino	$1.83	$2.08
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.46	$0.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$215	$173
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$145	$94.4
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$489	$514
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$310	$283
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$38.2	$69.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$57.7	$109
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27.1	$18.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.33%	20.86%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1560	$1142
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$933	$682
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.33	$0.18
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.9	$6.78
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.91	$4.25
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.04	$1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.14	$0.93
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.61	$0.67
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.12	$1.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.53	$1.28
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.81	$6.57
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.28	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.56	$4.39
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.21	$1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$0.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$0.88
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$0.62
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$0.44
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.96	$0.59
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.32	$0.27
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.11	$0.8
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.74	$2.56
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.43	$0.59
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.82	$2.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.41	$0.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.77	$1.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.54	$1.1
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.24	$0.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$21.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.07	$4.31
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.3	$12.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.71	$1.71
👖 Brand Jeans	$25.6	$19.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.2	$85.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$80.8	$64.6
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2756	$2961

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Asmara

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Mendefera	$487
63 km or 39 mi	Massawa	$486
71 km or 44 mi	Keren	$488
214 km or 133 mi	Mekelle	$662
270 km or 168 mi	Kassala	$1006
342 km or 212 mi	Gondar	$897
407 km or 253 mi	El-Gadarif	$943
437 km or 272 mi	Al Hudaydah	$505
448 km or 279 mi	Bahir Dar	$752
473 km or 294 mi	Dessie	$838
490 km or 304 mi	Zabid	$482
498 km or 310 mi	Abha	$910
509 km or 316 mi	Port Sudan	$1003
513 km or 319 mi	Bareq	$902
548 km or 340 mi	Sa'dah	$482
567 km or 352 mi	Sanaa	$546
580 km or 361 mi	Sayyan	$481
583 km or 362 mi	Taiz	$507
585 km or 363 mi	Ibb	$496
589 km or 366 mi	Atbara	$1131
596 km or 370 mi	Dhamar	$486
600 km or 373 mi	Dikhil	$542
602 km or 374 mi	Obock	$540
606 km or 376 mi	Najran	$937
618 km or 384 mi	Djibouti City	$571
620 km or 385 mi	Ali Sabieh	$542
633 km or 393 mi	Ad-Damazin	$836
649 km or 403 mi	Bisha	$905
674 km or 419 mi	Khartoum North	$877
684 km or 425 mi	Mecca	$979
685 km or 426 mi	Khartoum	$888
691 km or 429 mi	Jeddah	$1146
693 km or 430 mi	Omdurman	$908
701 km or 436 mi	Addis Ababa	$1180
715 km or 444 mi	Dire Dawa	$756
715 km or 444 mi	Kosti	$860
717 km or 446 mi	Aden	$503
755 km or 469 mi	Harar	$718
758 km or 471 mi	Borama	$518
788 km or 489 mi	Jijiga	$764

Cities near Islamabad

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$382
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$354
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$366
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$273
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$364
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$346
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$379
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$373
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$354
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$458
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$380
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$281
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$287
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$308
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$389
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$321
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$303
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$306
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$411
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$292
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$342
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$383
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$305
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$355
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$366
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$300
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$386
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$358
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$474
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$361
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$356
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$441
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$392
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$389
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$369