Bishkek vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bishkek	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$743	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1747	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$398	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$699	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$239	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$362	$516
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	44	43
😀 Quality of life	57	61
🏙️ Population	1.19M	1.4M

The cost of living in Bishkek is 15% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 6893rd and 6373rd ($743 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, respectively. Check Kyrgyzstan vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Bishkek compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Bishkek ranked 1st best city to live in Kyrgyzstan vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 6164th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bishkek vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/bishkek/ulaanbaatar.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Bishkek vs Ulaanbaatar infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/bishkek/ulaanbaatar" target="_blank">Bishkek vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Bishkek vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Bishkek	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.84	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.2	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.66	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$2.17	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.68	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$450	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$339	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$792	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$615	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$24.7	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.5	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$11.8	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.35%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1533	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1076	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.19	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.47	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.03	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.91	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.16	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.04	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.83	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.04	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.8	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.26	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.4	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.98	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.82	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.9	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.6	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$207	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5611	$6621

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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600