Brussels vs Dubai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Dubai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$2379
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$5357
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$1601
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$2918
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$453
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$186
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$3975
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	96	65
😀 Quality of life	89	87
🏙️ Population	196K	3.33M

The cost of living in Brussels is 24% less expensive than in Dubai. Cities ranked 2354th and 989th ($1816 vs $2379) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, respectively. Check Belgium vs the United Arab Emirates comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.7 months in Dubai. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Dubai ranked 1st in the United Arab Emirates, while ranked 190th and 288th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Dubai infographic

Share this infographic!

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/brussels/dubai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Brussels vs Dubai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/brussels/dubai" target="_blank">Brussels vs Dubai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Brussels vs Dubai

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

	Brussels	Dubai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.9	$10.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$58.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$9.28
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$12.6
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$6.1
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$1909
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$1243
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$3782
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$2332
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$134
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$205
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$91.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	4.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$6638
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$3507
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$1.63
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$86.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$10.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.83
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$1.41
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$2.12
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$3.22
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$9.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$12.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$2.44
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$1.64
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.42
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$2.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$16.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$2.76
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$6.03
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$8.1
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$5.68
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$2.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$3.41
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$77.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$13.4
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$77.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$8.79
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$61.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$104
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$903
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$13241

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1651
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1663
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1667
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1692
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1580
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1647
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1642
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1660
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1539
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1685
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1618
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1788
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1626
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1556
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1615
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1594
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1541
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1607
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1585
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1536
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1599
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1560
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1663
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1683
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1446
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1492
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1537
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1523
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1461
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1488
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1530
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1362
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1509
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1520
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1475
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1514
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1578
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1613
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1488
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1640

Cities near Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1494
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$2240
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1239
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1844
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$967
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$780
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$1779
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1090
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1709
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$547
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$548
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$518
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$514
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1280
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1223
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1243
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$515
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$1068
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$585
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$1056
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$589
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$897
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$563
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$605
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$464
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$901
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$546
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$557
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$551
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$529
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$829
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$573
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$536