Dongguan vs Dubai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dongguan	Dubai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$662	$2514
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1882	$5509
🏠 One person rent	$263	$1723
🏘️ Family rent	$461	$3020
🍽️ Food expenses	$234	$455
🚐 Transport expenses	$79.2	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$752	$4067
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	46 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	69	65
😀 Quality of life	72	91
🏙️ Population	10.5M	3.94M

The cost of living in Dongguan is 74% less expensive than in Dubai. Cities ranked 7341st and 848th ($662 vs $2514) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 78th and 2nd in China and the United Arab Emirates, respectively. Check China vs the United Arab Emirates comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Dongguan compared to 1.6 months in Dubai. Dongguan ranked 20th best city to live in China vs Dubai ranked 1st in the United Arab Emirates, while ranked 3389th and 158th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dongguan vs Dubai infographic

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Prices in Dongguan vs Dubai

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

	Dongguan	Dubai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.78	$10.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$21	$68.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.89	$9.32
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.27	$12.9
☕ Cappuccino	$2.67	$5.8
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.44	$1.14
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$319	$2095
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$184	$1336
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$568	$3716
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$2461
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39.7	$138
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.1	$211
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12.2	$96.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.86%	4.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6823	$7516
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3488	$3977
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.28	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$21.1	$86.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.04	$9.15
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.62	$1.92
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.47	$1.43
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$2.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.62	$3.47
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$10.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$9.16
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$12.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.9
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.2
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.11
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.1	$1.94
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.5	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.87	$2.62
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.78	$6.12
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.87	$8.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.97	$5.73
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.23	$2.6
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$3.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$61	$81.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.97	$14.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.3	$77.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.22	$8.82
👖 Brand Jeans	$30	$78.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$61.8	$122
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$445	$857
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21416	$15029

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dongguan

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Guangzhou	$758
65 km or 40 mi	Shenzhen	$878
66 km or 41 mi	Foshan	$589
68 km or 43 mi	Huizhou	$608
70 km or 44 mi	Zhongshan	$518
86 km or 53 mi	Jiangmen	$829
88 km or 54 mi	Zhuhai	$662
93 km or 58 mi	Kowloon	$2414
95 km or 59 mi	Hong Kong	$2718
100 km or 62 mi	Macau	$1746
100 km or 62 mi	Qingyuan	$777
124 km or 77 mi	Heyuan	$766
132 km or 82 mi	Kaiping	$827
133 km or 83 mi	Zhaoqing	$794
165 km or 103 mi	Shanwei	$941
176 km or 109 mi	Yunfu	$816
196 km or 122 mi	Shaoguan	$818
226 km or 141 mi	Yangjiang	$892
239 km or 148 mi	Lianzhou	$765
249 km or 155 mi	Puning	$579
253 km or 157 mi	Wuzhou	$809
271 km or 168 mi	Hezhou	$766
273 km or 170 mi	Jieyang	$451
279 km or 173 mi	Meizhou	$669
302 km or 188 mi	Chaozhou	$454
303 km or 188 mi	Shantou	$589
315 km or 195 mi	Chenzhou	$750
323 km or 201 mi	Gaozhou	$780
329 km or 205 mi	Maoming	$773
332 km or 206 mi	Ganzhou	$897
372 km or 231 mi	Yulin	$726
401 km or 249 mi	Zhanjiang	$790
403 km or 250 mi	Longyan	$697
424 km or 263 mi	Guigang	$693
430 km or 267 mi	Guilin	$546
430 km or 267 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
437 km or 271 mi	Yongzhou	$634
444 km or 276 mi	Hengyang	$622
464 km or 288 mi	Liuzhou	$574
467 km or 290 mi	Laibin	$598

Cities near Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1419
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$2521
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1228
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1449
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$1078
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$792
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$1849
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1081
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1770
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$530
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$529
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$568
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$534
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1237
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1201
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1230
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$557
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$908
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$573
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$1008
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$553
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$873
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$530
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$624
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$761
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$930
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$477
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$503
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$453
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$463
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$808
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$545
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$483