Bishkek vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Bishkek	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$653	$452
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1601	$1081
🏠 One person rent	$347	$164
🏘️ Family rent	$657	$242
🍽️ Food expenses	$216	$190
🚐 Transport expenses	$29.8	$41.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$328	$436
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	43	5
😀 Quality of life	53	36
🏙️ Population	1.12M	79.2K

The cost of living in Bishkek is 45% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 7174th and 8761st ($653 vs $452) 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 months in Thimphu. Bishkek ranked 1st best city to live in Kyrgyzstan vs Thimphu ranked 2nd in Bhutan, while ranked 6097th and 7674th 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	$5.46	$3.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$22.3	$18.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.35	$3.98
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.15	$7.06
☕ Cappuccino	$1.96	$1.94
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.65	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$410	$181
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$294	$105
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$829	$243
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$565	$174
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$17.7	$17.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$27.5	$27.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$11.8	$26
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	17.09%	10.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1073	$730
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$768	$121
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.17	$1.8
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$7.77	$28
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.35	$15.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.72	$0.95
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.82	$0.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.45	$0.79
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$0.64
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.64	$2.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.41	$4.88
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$4.39
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.73	$4.39
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$2.16
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$1.48
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$1.85
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$0.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$0.49
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$0.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.26	$0.23
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.87	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.59	$5.42
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.94	$0.79
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.35	$3.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.9	$1.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.69	$3.73
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.17	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.4	$40.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.96	$3.39
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$29.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.02	$3.39
👖 Brand Jeans	$35.8	$33.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.9	$42.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$195	$251
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5913	$701

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	$560
59 km or 37 mi	Tokmok	$398
171 km or 106 mi	Toktogul	$529
171 km or 106 mi	Kaskelen	$935
194 km or 121 mi	Almaty	$1051
195 km or 121 mi	Talas	$532
198 km or 123 mi	Naryn	$504
207 km or 129 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$488
233 km or 145 mi	Kapchagay	$878
251 km or 156 mi	Jalal-Abad	$515
261 km or 162 mi	Taraz	$479
299 km or 186 mi	Osh	$475
303 km or 188 mi	Andijan	$434
317 km or 197 mi	Namangan	$558
357 km or 222 mi	Margilan	$479
360 km or 224 mi	Fergana	$488
376 km or 233 mi	Artux	$658
387 km or 240 mi	Taldiqorgan	$593
398 km or 247 mi	Kashgar	$671
411 km or 256 mi	Shymkent	$651
439 km or 273 mi	Chirchiq	$416
444 km or 276 mi	Balkhash	$641
449 km or 279 mi	Konibodom	$674
471 km or 292 mi	Tashkent	$785
482 km or 300 mi	Istiklol	$682
497 km or 309 mi	Kentau	$564
498 km or 310 mi	Ghafurov	$680
499 km or 310 mi	Buston	$682
502 km or 312 mi	Khujand	$692
506 km or 314 mi	Aksu	$633
516 km or 320 mi	Turkistan	$582
558 km or 346 mi	Yining	$738
568 km or 353 mi	Istaravshan	$672
614 km or 382 mi	Aral	$623
637 km or 396 mi	Jizzakh	$473
642 km or 399 mi	Bole	$641
682 km or 424 mi	Dushanbe	$638
691 km or 430 mi	Panjakent	$647
721 km or 448 mi	Tursunzoda	$629
729 km or 453 mi	Samarkand	$562

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$476
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$343
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$325
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$337
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$1014
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$339
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$325
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$376
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$342
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$367
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$319
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$1095
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$299
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$315
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$360
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$318
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$290
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$290
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$271
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$293
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$312
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$337
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$311
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$303
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$342
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$455
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$355
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$456
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$387
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$446
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$272
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$390
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$287
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$345
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$310
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$304
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$335
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$312
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$276
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$288