Dubai vs Ottawa - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Dubai	Ottawa
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2420	$2133
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5315	$4730
🏠 One person rent	$1634	$1249
🏘️ Family rent	$2835	$1952
🍽️ Food expenses	$459	$587
🚐 Transport expenses	$182	$172
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4093	$3871
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	66	49
😀 Quality of life	90	92
🏙️ Population	3.94M	1.02M

The cost of living in Dubai is 13% more expensive than in Ottawa. Cities ranked 1039th and 1668th ($2420 vs $2133) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 27th in the United Arab Emirates and Canada, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Canada comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Dubai compared to 1.8 months in Ottawa. Dubai ranked 1st best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Ottawa ranked 10th in Canada, while ranked 203rd and 123rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/dubai/ottawa.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dubai vs Ottawa infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dubai/ottawa" target="_blank">Dubai vs Ottawa - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dubai vs Ottawa

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

	Dubai	Ottawa
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.2	$16.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.2	$62.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.33	$11
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$13.5	$5.87
☕ Cappuccino	$6.31	$4.25
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.3	$2.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1988	$1328
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1244	$1047
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3617	$2126
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2237	$1662
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$148	$96.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$227	$148
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$94	$48.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.46%	4.48%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7290	$4318
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4052	$3670
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.64	$2.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$83	$99.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.52	$15.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.89	$2.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.39	$2.68
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.08	$2.89
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.73	$3.59
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.09	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$16.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$4.13
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$1.37
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$3.85
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$4
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$2.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$3.08
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.4	$1.05
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.86	$2.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.57	$2.74
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.2	$13.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.2	$12.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.05	$4.26
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3	$1.99
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.08	$2.04
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.5	$44.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.1	$11
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$75.5	$68.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.2	$16.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$72.2	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$89.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$829	$882
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16876	$17337

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1473
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$2183
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1148
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1214
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1373
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1457
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$2070
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$635
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1710
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$1080
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$796
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$2014
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1135
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1923
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$545
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$541
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$575
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$545
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1309
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1109
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1192
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$563
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$931
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$575
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$1037
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$565
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$823
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$793
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$547
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$613
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$627
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$761
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$928
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$489
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$523
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$465
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$487
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$813
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$565
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$492

Cities near Ottawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Gatineau	$1866
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2229
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1703
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$1868
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1971
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1896
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1924
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1864
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1948
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1930
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1935
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1950
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1920
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1934
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1944
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1476
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1927
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1923
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1914
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$2047
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1800
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1893
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1876
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1733
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1907
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1862
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1910
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1928
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1852
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1875
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1940
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1923
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1960
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2080
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1897
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1846
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1861
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1723
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1918
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1891