Beijing vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Beijing	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1029	$458
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2645	$1016
🏠 One person rent	$589	$195
🏘️ Family rent	$1040	$267
🍽️ Food expenses	$246	$153
🚐 Transport expenses	$98	$76.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$658	$104
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	100	30
😀 Quality of life	73	33
🏙️ Population	21.9M	4.27M

The cost of living in Beijing is 125% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 5355th and 8842nd ($1029 vs $458) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 6th and 3rd in China and Afghanistan, respectively. Check China vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Beijing compared to 0.2 months in Kabul. Beijing ranked 11th best city to live in China vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 2546th and 8609th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Beijing vs Kabul infographic

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Prices in Beijing vs Kabul

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

	Beijing	Kabul
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.24	$2.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27.8	$11.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$4.48
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$2.4
☕ Cappuccino	$2.82	$1.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.49	$0.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$850	$93.7
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$469	$62.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1549	$172
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$839	$111
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.5	$30.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$46.5	$48.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$13.3	$95.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.51%	12.06%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$14720	$505
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6180	$260
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.56	$0.22
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31.3	$10.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.61	$7.78
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.1	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.82	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.69	$0.22
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.9
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.84	$1.47
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$4.11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.4	$3.55
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$6.13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.21	$0.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$0.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.76	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$0.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$0.45
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$0.24
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.18	$0.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.33	$1.81
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.79	$0.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.04	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.55	$3.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.55	$3.88
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.7	$1.12
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.96	$1.52
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$59.4	$10.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.35	$2.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$33.7	$15.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.03	$3.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.1	$18
👟 Brand Sneakers	$78.2	$34.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$713	$19.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22823	$1486

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Beijing

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Langfang	$707
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuozhou	$724
58 km or 36 mi	Sanhe	$750
78 km or 49 mi	Gaobeidian	$634
87 km or 54 mi	Bazhou	$634
109 km or 68 mi	Tianjin	$646
135 km or 84 mi	Renqiu	$565
137 km or 85 mi	Zunhua	$660
139 km or 87 mi	Baoding	$456
151 km or 94 mi	Binhai	$641
155 km or 97 mi	Tangshan	$688
163 km or 101 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
164 km or 102 mi	Hejian	$558
176 km or 110 mi	Chengde	$694
182 km or 113 mi	Cangzhou	$638
189 km or 117 mi	Huanghua	$619
189 km or 118 mi	Anguo	$533
196 km or 122 mi	Dingzhou	$574
197 km or 122 mi	Qian'an	$616
198 km or 123 mi	Luanzhou	$614
204 km or 127 mi	Botou	$564
224 km or 139 mi	Shenzhou	$505
228 km or 142 mi	Xinle	$535
229 km or 142 mi	Pingquan	$615
239 km or 148 mi	Jinzhou	$527
241 km or 150 mi	Xinji	$523
249 km or 155 mi	Gaocheng	$527
249 km or 155 mi	Hengshui	$454
252 km or 156 mi	Laoling	$580
263 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$505
265 km or 165 mi	Datong	$748
272 km or 169 mi	Jizhou	$499
273 km or 169 mi	Qinhuangdao	$558
273 km or 170 mi	Dezhou	$480
281 km or 175 mi	Fengzhen	$642
282 km or 175 mi	Huairen	$654
294 km or 183 mi	Lingyuan	$601
296 km or 184 mi	Nangong	$550
302 km or 187 mi	Ulanqab	$629
314 km or 195 mi	Binzhou	$741

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$401
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$354
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$396
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$393
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$334
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$364
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$428
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$354
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$351
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$344
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$443
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$432
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$376
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$712
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$277
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$436
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$294
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$372
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$265
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$351
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$363
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$333
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$320
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$340
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$291
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$403
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$303
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$302
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$362
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$311
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$316
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$439