Bishkek vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bishkek	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$743	$420
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1747	$1031
🏠 One person rent	$398	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$699	$236
🍽️ Food expenses	$239	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$39.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$362	$544
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	44	5
😀 Quality of life	57	42
🏙️ Population	1.19M	115K

The cost of living in Bishkek is 77% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 6893rd and 8940th ($743 vs $420) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Kyrgyzstan and Bhutan, respectively. Check Kyrgyzstan vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Bishkek compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Bishkek ranked 1st best city to live in Kyrgyzstan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6164th and 7547th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bishkek vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Bishkek vs Thimphu

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

	Bishkek	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.84	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.2	$17.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.66	$4.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$2.28
☕ Cappuccino	$2.17	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.68	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$450	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$339	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$792	$255
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$615	$171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$24.7	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.5	$26.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$11.8	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.35%	10.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1533	$600
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1076	$947
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$1.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.19	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.47	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.03	$4.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$4.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.91	$4.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$0.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$0.58
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.16	$1.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.04	$5.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$0.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.83	$3.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$1.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.04	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.8	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.26	$0.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.4	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.98	$3.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$27.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.82	$3.19
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.9	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.6	$43.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$207	$235
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5611	$653

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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$450
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$297
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$308
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$311
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$918
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$316
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$298
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$348
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$321
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$338
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$297
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$981
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$284
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$287
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$354
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$297
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$282
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$281
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$321
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$293
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$294
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$352
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$332
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$427
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$464
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$362
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$328
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$300
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$286
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$320
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$289
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$286
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$289