Bishkek vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Bishkek	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$710	$387
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1741	$1009
🏠 One person rent	$376	$122
🏘️ Family rent	$705	$227
🍽️ Food expenses	$232	$177
🚐 Transport expenses	$32.1	$32.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$570
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	43	5
😀 Quality of life	51	50
🏙️ Population	1.15M	115K

The cost of living in Bishkek is 84% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 6863rd and 9013th ($710 vs $387) 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 1.5 months in Thimphu. Bishkek ranked 1st best city to live in Kyrgyzstan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6133rd and 6232nd 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	$5.93	$2.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.5	$16.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.85	$3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.2	$6.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.11	$1.54
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.64	$0.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$433	$119
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$323	$65.3
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$897	$222
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$605	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$18.6	$13.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$28.7	$21.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12.3	$32.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.35%	9.56%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1190	$625
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$896	$869
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.24	$1.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$6.51	$4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.86	$15.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.87	$0.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.49	$0.97
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$0.74
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.77	$2.25
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.85	$3.43
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.47	$3.93
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.32	$4.33
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$2.39
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$0.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.5	$0.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$0.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.32	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.94	$1.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.9	$3.55
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.58	$3.92
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.14	$1.64
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.78	$3.7
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.06	$1.27
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.24	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.7	$49.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.12	$3.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.9	$29.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.21	$3.33
👖 Brand Jeans	$40.2	$33.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$32.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$235	$251
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6319	$691

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	$681
59 km or 37 mi	Tokmok	$673
171 km or 106 mi	Toktogul	$645
171 km or 106 mi	Kaskelen	$838
194 km or 121 mi	Almaty	$941
195 km or 121 mi	Talas	$653
198 km or 123 mi	Naryn	$661
207 km or 129 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$666
233 km or 145 mi	Kapchagay	$791
251 km or 156 mi	Jalal-Abad	$614
261 km or 162 mi	Taraz	$461
299 km or 186 mi	Osh	$567
303 km or 188 mi	Andijan	$419
317 km or 197 mi	Namangan	$527
357 km or 222 mi	Margilan	$473
360 km or 224 mi	Fergana	$469
376 km or 233 mi	Artux	$639
387 km or 240 mi	Taldiqorgan	$570
398 km or 247 mi	Kashgar	$654
411 km or 256 mi	Shymkent	$596
439 km or 273 mi	Chirchiq	$429
444 km or 276 mi	Balkhash	$628
449 km or 279 mi	Konibodom	$663
471 km or 292 mi	Tashkent	$816
482 km or 300 mi	Istiklol	$660
497 km or 309 mi	Kentau	$519
498 km or 310 mi	Ghafurov	$666
499 km or 310 mi	Buston	$671
502 km or 312 mi	Khujand	$658
506 km or 314 mi	Aksu	$630
516 km or 320 mi	Turkistan	$532
558 km or 346 mi	Yining	$735
568 km or 353 mi	Istaravshan	$667
614 km or 382 mi	Aral	$617
637 km or 396 mi	Jizzakh	$468
642 km or 399 mi	Bole	$599
682 km or 424 mi	Dushanbe	$672
691 km or 430 mi	Panjakent	$664
721 km or 448 mi	Tursunzoda	$655
729 km or 453 mi	Samarkand	$530

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$455
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$314
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$298
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$293
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$930
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$331
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$312
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$370
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$339
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$359
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$311
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$997
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$303
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$282
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$390
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$311
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$256
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$297
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$268
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$279
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$296
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$321
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$309
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$271
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$290
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$443
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$428
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$380
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$301
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$294
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$311
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$294
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$335
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$290
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$307
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$356
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$288
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$273
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$284