Bishkek vs Kathmandu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bishkek	Kathmandu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$743	$427
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1747	$1087
🏠 One person rent	$398	$127
🏘️ Family rent	$699	$214
🍽️ Food expenses	$239	$182
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$69.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$362	$253
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	2 km
🎓 Higher education	44	28
😀 Quality of life	57	51
🏙️ Population	1.19M	846K

The cost of living in Bishkek is 74% more expensive than in Kathmandu. Cities ranked 6893rd and 8921st ($743 vs $427) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Kyrgyzstan and Nepal, respectively. Check Kyrgyzstan vs Nepal comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Bishkek compared to 0.6 months in Kathmandu. Bishkek ranked 1st best city to live in Kyrgyzstan vs Kathmandu ranked 1st in Nepal, while ranked 6164th and 6559th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bishkek vs Kathmandu infographic

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Prices in Bishkek vs Kathmandu

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

	Bishkek	Kathmandu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.84	$1.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.2	$18.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.66	$6.36
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$2.17	$1.76
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.68	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$450	$158
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$339	$84.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$792	$284
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$615	$150
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$24.7	$19
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.5	$29.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$11.8	$8.19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.35%	11.29%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1533	$1810
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1076	$1154
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$0.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.19	$13.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.47	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$0.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.03	$8.96
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$3.14
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.91	$6.14
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$2.16
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.21
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$0.67
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$0.65
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.16	$1.71
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.04	$6.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$2.32
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.83	$2.81
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$1.22
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.04	$2.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.8	$0.9
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.26	$0.69
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.4	$21.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.98	$3.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$21.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.82	$2.68
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.9	$22.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.6	$58.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$207	$75.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5611	$3066

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bishkek

Distance	City	Cost of living
23 km or 14 mi	Kant	$501
59 km or 37 mi	Tokmok	$613
171 km or 106 mi	Toktogul	$615
171 km or 106 mi	Kaskelen	$787
194 km or 121 mi	Almaty	$884
195 km or 121 mi	Talas	$532
198 km or 123 mi	Naryn	$573
207 km or 129 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$629
233 km or 145 mi	Kapchagay	$762
251 km or 156 mi	Jalal-Abad	$585
261 km or 162 mi	Taraz	$445
299 km or 186 mi	Osh	$549
303 km or 188 mi	Andijan	$451
317 km or 197 mi	Namangan	$562
357 km or 222 mi	Margilan	$648
360 km or 224 mi	Fergana	$680
376 km or 233 mi	Artux	$639
387 km or 240 mi	Taldiqorgan	$678
398 km or 247 mi	Kashgar	$651
411 km or 256 mi	Shymkent	$525
439 km or 273 mi	Chirchiq	$754
444 km or 276 mi	Balkhash	$618
449 km or 279 mi	Konibodom	$626
471 km or 292 mi	Tashkent	$844
482 km or 300 mi	Istiklol	$620
497 km or 309 mi	Kentau	$468
498 km or 310 mi	Ghafurov	$600
499 km or 310 mi	Buston	$650
502 km or 312 mi	Khujand	$603
506 km or 314 mi	Aksu	$625
516 km or 320 mi	Turkistan	$480
558 km or 346 mi	Yining	$559
568 km or 353 mi	Istaravshan	$658
614 km or 382 mi	Aral	$614
637 km or 396 mi	Jizzakh	$555
642 km or 399 mi	Bole	$544
682 km or 424 mi	Dushanbe	$712
691 km or 430 mi	Panjakent	$674
721 km or 448 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
729 km or 453 mi	Samarkand	$475

Cities near Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$350
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$293
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$328
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$293
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$386
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$298
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$321
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$320
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$281
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$316
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$284
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$297
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$297
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$279
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$273
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$298
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$918
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$276
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$450
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$297
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$311
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$420
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$300
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$297
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$308
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$339
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$289
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$289
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$286
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$383
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$369
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$294
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$289
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$367
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$287
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$320
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$348