Dubai vs Malaga - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dubai	Malaga
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2379	$1430
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5357	$3228
🏠 One person rent	$1601	$851
🏘️ Family rent	$2918	$1438
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$380
🚐 Transport expenses	$186	$92.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3975	$1651
😷 Air quality	Bad	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	65	24
😀 Quality of life	87	78
🏙️ Population	3.33M	592K

The cost of living in Dubai is 66% more expensive than in Malaga. Cities ranked 989th and 3759th ($2379 vs $1430) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 31st in the United Arab Emirates and Spain, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Spain comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Dubai compared to 1.2 months in Malaga. Dubai ranked 1st best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Malaga ranked 19th in Spain, while ranked 288th and 708th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dubai vs Malaga infographic

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Prices in Dubai vs Malaga

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

	Dubai	Malaga
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.9	$12.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$58.4	$47.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.28	$9.27
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$12.6	$3.66
☕ Cappuccino	$6.1	$2.4
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$2.13
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1909	$969
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1243	$689
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3782	$1741
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2332	$1176
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$134	$76.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$205	$119
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$91.5	$29.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.45%	3.49%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6638	$6060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3507	$2594
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.63	$1.46
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86.2	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.8	$16.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.64
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$1.09
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.41	$1.25
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.53
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.22	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$14.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.52	$7.57
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.44	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.75
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.45
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$2.13
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$1.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.76
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.41
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.17	$2.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.1	$5.97
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.76	$1.01
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.03	$5.78
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.1	$6.61
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.68	$2.68
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.63	$2.05
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.41	$1.52
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$77.1	$39.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$8.58
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$77.2	$37.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.79	$13.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.6	$75.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$87
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$903	$378
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13241	$9532

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1494
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$2240
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1239
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1844
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$967
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$780
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$1779
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1090
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1709
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$547
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$548
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$518
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$514
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1280
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1223
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1243
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$515
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$1068
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$585
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$1056
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$589
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$897
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$563
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$605
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$464
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$901
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$546
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$557
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$551
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$529
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$829
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$573
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$536

Cities near Malaga

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Benalmadena	$1415
24 km or 15 mi	Mijas	$1353
27 km or 17 mi	Fuengirola	$1347
36 km or 22 mi	Antequera	$1178
48 km or 30 mi	Marbella	$2040
55 km or 34 mi	Loja	$1316
65 km or 40 mi	Almunecar	$945
67 km or 41 mi	Ronda	$893
71 km or 44 mi	Estepona	$1395
80 km or 50 mi	Motril	$895
89 km or 55 mi	Granada	$1164
94 km or 58 mi	Alcala la Real	$2087
104 km or 64 mi	La Linea de la Concepcion	$1145
105 km or 65 mi	Gibraltar City	$2278
109 km or 68 mi	Ecija	$1201
113 km or 70 mi	Los Barrios	$1041
114 km or 71 mi	Algeciras	$889
119 km or 74 mi	Martos	$1204
122 km or 76 mi	Ceuta	$1141
124 km or 77 mi	Arcos de la Frontera	$1144
125 km or 78 mi	Adra	$1073
130 km or 81 mi	Jaen	$930
132 km or 82 mi	Tarifa	$1196
133 km or 83 mi	Cordoba	$1100
137 km or 85 mi	Carmona	$1197
143 km or 89 mi	El Ejido	$1004
148 km or 92 mi	Dos Hermanas	$1164
152 km or 94 mi	Jerez de la Frontera	$892
154 km or 96 mi	Tetouan	$517
158 km or 98 mi	Seville	$1255
158 km or 98 mi	Chiclana de la Frontera	$1018
162 km or 101 mi	Tangier	$679
169 km or 105 mi	Linares	$1220
169 km or 105 mi	Cadiz	$1359
171 km or 106 mi	Ubeda	$1316
174 km or 108 mi	Rota	$1358
176 km or 109 mi	Almeria	$1170
196 km or 122 mi	Almonte	$1165
207 km or 129 mi	Melilla	$801
218 km or 135 mi	Nador	$449