Bishkek vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Bishkek	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$789	$935
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1868	$2240
🏠 One person rent	$431	$481
🏘️ Family rent	$766	$841
🍽️ Food expenses	$246	$314
🚐 Transport expenses	$38	$46.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$197	$589
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	44	44
😀 Quality of life	53	64
🏙️ Population	1.19M	1.4M

The cost of living in Bishkek is 16% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 6825th and 6046th ($789 vs $935) 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 0.2 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 6437th and 5297th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<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	$6.87	$5.63
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.9	$31.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.78	$5.65
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$2.39
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2.37
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.74	$0.85
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$509	$522
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$399
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$909	$962
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$660	$710
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$28.5	$43.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.6	$67.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12.3	$13.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.19%	8.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1669	$1954
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1152	$961
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$10.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.73	$4.99
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.03
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.98	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.4	$0.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$2.14
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.47	$11.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.55	$4.95
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.76	$6.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$3.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$2.48
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$3.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$3.1
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$0.73
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1.13
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$0.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.17	$1.18
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.04	$9.81
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.28	$1.54
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.91	$1.77
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$9.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.04	$3.66
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.8	$2.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.25	$1.81
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.4	$75.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.67	$4.18
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$19.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.82	$4.81
👖 Brand Jeans	$46.6	$82.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.7	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$221	$217
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7494	$8817

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	$500
59 km or 37 mi	Tokmok	$636
171 km or 106 mi	Toktogul	$646
171 km or 106 mi	Kaskelen	$899
194 km or 121 mi	Almaty	$1014
195 km or 121 mi	Talas	$555
198 km or 123 mi	Naryn	$601
207 km or 129 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$656
233 km or 145 mi	Kapchagay	$876
251 km or 156 mi	Jalal-Abad	$609
261 km or 162 mi	Taraz	$488
299 km or 186 mi	Osh	$570
303 km or 188 mi	Andijan	$471
317 km or 197 mi	Namangan	$572
357 km or 222 mi	Margilan	$669
360 km or 224 mi	Fergana	$688
376 km or 233 mi	Artux	$514
387 km or 240 mi	Taldiqorgan	$764
398 km or 247 mi	Kashgar	$518
411 km or 256 mi	Shymkent	$587
439 km or 273 mi	Chirchiq	$759
444 km or 276 mi	Balkhash	$687
449 km or 279 mi	Konibodom	$610
471 km or 292 mi	Tashkent	$842
482 km or 300 mi	Istiklol	$599
497 km or 309 mi	Kentau	$535
498 km or 310 mi	Ghafurov	$583
499 km or 310 mi	Buston	$622
502 km or 312 mi	Khujand	$576
506 km or 314 mi	Aksu	$521
516 km or 320 mi	Turkistan	$549
558 km or 346 mi	Yining	$579
568 km or 353 mi	Istaravshan	$645
614 km or 382 mi	Aral	$513
637 km or 396 mi	Jizzakh	$568
642 km or 399 mi	Bole	$572
682 km or 424 mi	Dushanbe	$773
691 km or 430 mi	Panjakent	$704
721 km or 448 mi	Tursunzoda	$737
729 km or 453 mi	Samarkand	$497

Cities near Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$904
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$739
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$778
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$776
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$863
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$656
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$1039
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$721
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$693
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$578
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$665
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1426
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$691
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$658
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$676
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$568
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$820
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$789
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$680
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$639
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$684
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$607
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$577
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$629
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$594
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$593
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$618
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$503
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$570
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$509
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$653
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$492
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$580
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$433
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$722
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$594
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$627
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1108
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$460
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$672