Dar es Salaam vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dar es Salaam	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$811	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2062	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$423	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$748	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$225	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$106	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$323	$550
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	44	5
😀 Quality of life	41	34
🏙️ Population	4.72M	115K

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 92% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 6399th and 8915th ($811 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Tanzania and Bhutan, respectively. Check Tanzania vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6871st and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Thimphu infographic

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

Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Thimphu

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

	Dar es Salaam	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.93	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$20.1	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.15	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.4	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$427	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$325	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1029	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$551	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.6	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.47%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3163	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5427	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.29	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.1	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.2	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.71	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.76	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.55	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.06	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.28	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.28	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.26	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.83	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.14	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.76	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.24	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.96	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$77.9	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.94	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.2	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.84	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$21.5	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$39.3	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$312	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19371	$666

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	$552
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$523
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$486
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$545
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$580
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$502
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$561
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$638
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$408
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$760
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$461
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$589
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1105
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1506
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$525
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$541
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$500
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1100
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$566
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$625
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1150
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$522
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$872
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$483
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1465
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$490
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$493
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$748
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$587
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$602
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$492
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$605
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$457
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$562
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$648
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$558
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$648
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$650

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