Dubai vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dubai	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2379	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5357	$3111
🏠 One person rent	$1601	$519
🏘️ Family rent	$2918	$1664
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$186	$29.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3975	$718
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	65	7
😀 Quality of life	87	53
🏙️ Population	3.33M	77.6K

The cost of living in Dubai is 153% more expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 989th and 5827th ($2379 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in the United Arab Emirates and Thailand, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Dubai compared to 0.8 months in Phuket. Dubai ranked 1st best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Phuket ranked 7th in Thailand, while ranked 288th and 6063rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dubai vs Phuket infographic

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Prices in Dubai vs Phuket

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

	Dubai	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.9	$5.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$58.4	$36
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.28	$7.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$12.6	$2.68
☕ Cappuccino	$6.1	$2.39
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1909	$504
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1243	$403
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3782	$1891
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2332	$1436
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$134	$79.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$205	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$91.5	$16.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.45%	6.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6638	$4059
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3507	$2821
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.63	$1.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86.2	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.8	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.41	$1.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.22	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$20.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.52	$3.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.44	$3.05
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.33
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$1.44
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.17	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.1	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.76	$1.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.03	$4.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.1	$3.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.68	$2.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.63	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.41	$1.4
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$77.1	$56.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$8.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$77.2	$28.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.79	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.6	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$98.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$903	$723
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13241	$13013

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	$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 Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$792
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$782
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$563
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$763
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$560
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$570
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$705
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$730
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$777
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$490
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$620
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$619
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$461
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$695
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$628
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$481
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$470
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$576
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$656
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$752
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$781
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$670
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$645
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$755
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$677
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$743
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810