Bishkek vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bishkek	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$713	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1726	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$380	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$727	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$229	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$34	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$385	$550
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	43	5
😀 Quality of life	52	34
🏙️ Population	1.15M	115K

The cost of living in Bishkek is 69% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 6826th and 8915th ($713 vs $422) 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 6118th and 7592nd 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 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	$5.73	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.9	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.74	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.66	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$439	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$326	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$897	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$19.5	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.1	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.31%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1273	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$929	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.5	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.2	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.9	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.77	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.54	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.12	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.7	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.52	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.32	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.17	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.43	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.08	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.72	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.71	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.17	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.2	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.61	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.11	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.5	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$205	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3972	$666

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$459
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$312
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$296
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$296
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$900
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$317
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$309
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$342
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$323
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$335
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$307
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$963
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$300
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$280
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$408
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$308
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$264
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$292
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$305
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$292
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$304
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$295
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$297
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$419
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$341
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$430
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$367
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$309
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$294
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$281
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$321
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$289
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$294
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$316
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$292
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$299
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$300