Bishkek vs Kathmandu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bishkek	Kathmandu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$713	$419
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1726	$1077
🏠 One person rent	$380	$131
🏘️ Family rent	$727	$240
🍽️ Food expenses	$229	$181
🚐 Transport expenses	$34	$62.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$385	$238
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	2 km
🎓 Higher education	43	28
😀 Quality of life	52	46
🏙️ Population	1.15M	846K

The cost of living in Bishkek is 70% more expensive than in Kathmandu. Cities ranked 6826th and 8918th ($713 vs $419) 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 6118th and 6495th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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	$5.73	$1.44
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.9	$18.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.74	$6.47
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$2.57
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$1.81
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.66	$0.48
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$439	$162
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$326	$84.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$897	$296
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$173
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$19.5	$21.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.1	$32.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12	$9.58
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.31%	12.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1273	$2191
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$929	$1059
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$0.22
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.5	$10.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.2	$10.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.9	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$0.9
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.77	$1.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.54	$8.84
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.12	$3.13
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.7	$5.67
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$2.31
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$1.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$0.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$0.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.52	$0.67
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.32	$0.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.17	$1.76
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.43	$7.27
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.08	$2.23
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.72	$2.87
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$1.24
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.71	$2.53
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$0.92
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.17	$0.69
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.2	$22.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.61	$3.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$15.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.11	$2.77
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.5	$23.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$53.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$205	$85.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3972	$3409

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	$674
59 km or 37 mi	Tokmok	$667
171 km or 106 mi	Toktogul	$607
171 km or 106 mi	Kaskelen	$785
194 km or 121 mi	Almaty	$881
195 km or 121 mi	Talas	$623
198 km or 123 mi	Naryn	$637
207 km or 129 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$652
233 km or 145 mi	Kapchagay	$749
251 km or 156 mi	Jalal-Abad	$538
261 km or 162 mi	Taraz	$441
299 km or 186 mi	Osh	$477
303 km or 188 mi	Andijan	$430
317 km or 197 mi	Namangan	$538
357 km or 222 mi	Margilan	$591
360 km or 224 mi	Fergana	$626
376 km or 233 mi	Artux	$619
387 km or 240 mi	Taldiqorgan	$553
398 km or 247 mi	Kashgar	$634
411 km or 256 mi	Shymkent	$569
439 km or 273 mi	Chirchiq	$444
444 km or 276 mi	Balkhash	$624
449 km or 279 mi	Konibodom	$613
471 km or 292 mi	Tashkent	$853
482 km or 300 mi	Istiklol	$613
497 km or 309 mi	Kentau	$501
498 km or 310 mi	Ghafurov	$614
499 km or 310 mi	Buston	$615
502 km or 312 mi	Khujand	$623
506 km or 314 mi	Aksu	$610
516 km or 320 mi	Turkistan	$512
558 km or 346 mi	Yining	$543
568 km or 353 mi	Istaravshan	$613
614 km or 382 mi	Aral	$601
637 km or 396 mi	Jizzakh	$507
642 km or 399 mi	Bole	$531
682 km or 424 mi	Dushanbe	$605
691 km or 430 mi	Panjakent	$602
721 km or 448 mi	Tursunzoda	$593
729 km or 453 mi	Samarkand	$472

Cities near Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$341
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$294
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$321
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$292
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$391
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$300
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$316
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$292
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$317
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$300
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$312
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$299
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$297
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$308
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$309
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$900
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$329
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$459
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$308
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$296
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$422
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$314
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$307
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$296
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$366
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$300
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$299
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$384
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$375
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$304
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$292
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$370
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$280
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$315
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$361