Dar es Salaam vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Dar es Salaam	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$735	$1010
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1928	$2467
🏠 One person rent	$334	$555
🏘️ Family rent	$567	$956
🍽️ Food expenses	$222	$325
🚐 Transport expenses	$122	$35.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$103	$512
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	46	8
😀 Quality of life	55	55
🏙️ Population	4.72M	77.6K

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 27% less expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 7084th and 5497th ($735 vs $1010) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Tanzania and Thailand, respectively. Check Tanzania vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.1 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 0.5 months in Phuket. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Phuket ranked 9th in Thailand, while ranked 6319th and 6330th among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Phuket

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

	Dar es Salaam	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.04	$5.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$17.9	$40.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.56	$9.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.98	$2.46
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.37	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$537	$650
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$184	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$989	$1157
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$332	$761
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.4	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.2	$96.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.5	$19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.2%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1532	$3728
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1077	$2603
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.25	$1.53
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$23.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$11.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.68	$1.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.59
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.92	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.92	$19.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.92	$3.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.08	$11.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$3.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$2.3
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.02	$2.17
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$1.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.25	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.23	$1.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.86	$19.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.88	$1.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.29	$4.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.09	$3.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.72	$2.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.2	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.95	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$82.4	$53.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.19	$7.75
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.8	$29.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.07	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$16.4	$64.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$44.7	$97.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$570	$565
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13482	$13979

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 Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992