Dar es Salaam vs Islamabad - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Dar es Salaam	Islamabad
🚶 Cost of living one person	$735	$496
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1928	$1174
🏠 One person rent	$334	$228
🏘️ Family rent	$567	$388
🍽️ Food expenses	$222	$168
🚐 Transport expenses	$122	$42.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$103	$146
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	46	70
😀 Quality of life	55	50
🏙️ Population	4.72M	1.01M

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 48% more expensive than in Islamabad. Cities ranked 7084th and 8685th ($735 vs $496) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Tanzania and Pakistan, respectively. Check Tanzania vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.1 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 0.3 months in Islamabad. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Islamabad ranked 4th in Pakistan, while ranked 6319th and 6656th among best cities to live in the world.

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/dar-es-salaam/islamabad.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Islamabad infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dar-es-salaam/islamabad" target="_blank">Dar es Salaam vs Islamabad - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Islamabad

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

	Dar es Salaam	Islamabad
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.04	$3.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$17.9	$19
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.56	$5.41
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.98	$2.79
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$2.38
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.37	$0.38
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$537	$243
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$184	$126
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$989	$449
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$332	$233
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.4	$62.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.2	$95.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.5	$16.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.2%	14.59%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1532	$1529
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1077	$645
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.25	$0.18
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$12.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$4.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$1.06
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$0.98
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.68	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.92	$1.23
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.92	$5.82
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.92	$2.94
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.08	$4.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.23
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$0.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$1.01
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.02	$0.47
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$0.31
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.25	$0.26
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.23	$0.77
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.86	$1.95
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.88	$1.49
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.29	$2.36
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.09	$1.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.72	$1.68
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.2	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.95	$0.7
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$82.4	$24.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.19	$4.82
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.8	$11
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.07	$1.91
👖 Brand Jeans	$16.4	$22.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$44.7	$95.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$570	$81.5
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13482	$3550

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$586
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$546
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$417
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$533
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$611
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$495
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$563
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$540
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$618
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$415
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$807
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$463
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$448
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1196
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1511
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$522
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$543
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$532
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1196
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$559
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$613
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1167
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$549
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$933
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$513
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1603
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$516
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$524
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$494
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$1132
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$587
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$603
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$489
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$624
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$452
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$573
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$688
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$531
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$690
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$688

Cities near Islamabad

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Rawalpindi	$446
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$371
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$280
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$373
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$350
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$253
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$373
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$321
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$394
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$335
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$344
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$391
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$382
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$313
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$286
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$309
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$393
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$332
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$396
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$381
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$359
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$450
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$306
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$379
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$397
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$339
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$371
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$438
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$340
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$456
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$346
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$504
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$401
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$350
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$391
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$440
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$447
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$278
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$447
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$379