Chennai vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chennai	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$430	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1140	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$152	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$346	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$65.4	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$848	$550
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	78	5
😀 Quality of life	66	34
🏙️ Population	6.6M	115K

The cost of living in Chennai is 2% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 8897th and 8915th ($430 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 2nd in India and Bhutan, respectively. Check India vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Chennai compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Chennai ranked 4th best city to live in India vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 4021st and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chennai vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Chennai vs Thimphu

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

	Chennai	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.83	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.6	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.01	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.05	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$1.98	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.46	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$170	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$102	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$470	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$254	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$25.5	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.3	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.23%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1935	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$767	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.4	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.84	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.91	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.5	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.5	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.67	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.82	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.54	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.03	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.79	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$18.7	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.86	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$26.2	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$48.6	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$80.7	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1573	$666

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$315
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$258
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$354
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$360
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$514
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$306
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$346
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$367
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$355
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$338
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$304
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$302
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$533
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$311
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$314
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$375
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$359
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$304
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$295
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$351
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$292
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$316
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$280
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$300
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$354
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$349
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$316
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$311
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$304
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$310
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$339
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$366
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$298
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$330
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$272
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$357
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$307
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$272
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$292
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$306

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