Dubai vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dubai	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2379	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5357	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$1601	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$2918	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$186	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3975	$550
😷 Air quality	Bad	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	65	5
😀 Quality of life	87	34
🏙️ Population	3.33M	115K

The cost of living in Dubai is 463% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 989th and 8915th ($2379 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in the United Arab Emirates and Bhutan, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Dubai compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Dubai ranked 1st best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 288th and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dubai vs Thimphu infographic

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

Prices in Dubai vs Thimphu

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

	Dubai	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.9	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$58.4	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.28	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$12.6	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$6.1	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1909	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1243	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3782	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2332	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$134	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$205	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$91.5	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.45%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6638	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3507	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.63	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86.2	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.8	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.41	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.22	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.52	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.44	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.17	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.1	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.76	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.03	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.1	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.68	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.63	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.41	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$77.1	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$77.2	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.79	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.6	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$903	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13241	$666

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 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