Dushanbe vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dushanbe	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$712	$458
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1759	$1016
🏠 One person rent	$316	$195
🏘️ Family rent	$549	$267
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$153
🚐 Transport expenses	$36.1	$76.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$140	$104
😷 Air quality	Bad	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	35	30
😀 Quality of life	42	33
🏙️ Population	863K	4.27M

The cost of living in Dushanbe is 56% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 7031st and 8842nd ($712 vs $458) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, respectively. Check Tajikistan vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Dushanbe compared to 0.2 months in Kabul. Dushanbe ranked 1st best city to live in Tajikistan vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 7474th and 8609th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dushanbe vs Kabul infographic

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Prices in Dushanbe vs Kabul

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

	Dushanbe	Kabul
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.97	$2.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$15.2	$11.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.96	$4.48
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.08	$2.4
☕ Cappuccino	$1.99	$1.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.6	$0.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$402	$93.7
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$229	$62.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$739	$172
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$413	$111
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.4	$30.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$52.9	$48.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17.6	$95.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	25.66%	12.06%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1032	$505
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$658	$260
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.27	$0.22
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.8	$10.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.69	$7.78
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.11	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.57	$0.22
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.9
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.83	$1.47
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$4.11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$3.55
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$6.13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$0.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.02	$0.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.72	$0.45
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$0.24
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.39	$0.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.3	$1.81
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.54	$0.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.25	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.92	$3.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.34	$3.88
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.96	$1.12
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.71	$1.52
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.3	$10.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.46	$2.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$85.8	$15.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.29	$3.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$33.1	$18
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.5	$34.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$108	$19.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7848	$1486

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dushanbe

Distance	City	Cost of living
49 km or 30 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
82 km or 51 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
145 km or 90 mi	Panjakent	$674
150 km or 93 mi	Istaravshan	$658
190 km or 118 mi	Jizzakh	$555
198 km or 123 mi	Samarkand	$475
200 km or 124 mi	Ghafurov	$600
201 km or 125 mi	Buston	$650
203 km or 126 mi	Khujand	$603
205 km or 127 mi	Kunduz	$428
234 km or 145 mi	Istiklol	$620
236 km or 147 mi	Konibodom	$626
255 km or 158 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
261 km or 162 mi	Qarshi	$512
292 km or 181 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
306 km or 190 mi	Tashkent	$844
327 km or 203 mi	Fergana	$680
328 km or 204 mi	Margilan	$648
329 km or 204 mi	Chirchiq	$754
341 km or 212 mi	Sheberghan	$432
365 km or 227 mi	Namangan	$562
386 km or 240 mi	Andijan	$451
399 km or 248 mi	Bukhara	$433
406 km or 252 mi	Osh	$549
420 km or 261 mi	Shymkent	$525
445 km or 276 mi	Jalal-Abad	$585
451 km or 280 mi	Kabul	$458
456 km or 283 mi	Turkmenabat	$1716
484 km or 301 mi	Jalalabad	$354
511 km or 318 mi	Toktogul	$615
526 km or 327 mi	Taraz	$445
526 km or 327 mi	Talas	$532
528 km or 328 mi	Turkistan	$480
529 km or 329 mi	Mingora	$351
550 km or 342 mi	Kentau	$468
555 km or 345 mi	Gardez	$401
560 km or 348 mi	Ghazni	$396
564 km or 350 mi	Peshawar	$334
566 km or 352 mi	Mardan	$354
591 km or 367 mi	Khost	$393

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$401
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$354
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$396
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$393
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$334
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$364
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$428
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$354
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$351
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$344
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$443
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$432
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$376
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$712
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$277
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$436
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$294
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$372
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$265
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$351
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$363
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$333
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$320
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$340
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$291
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$403
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$303
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$302
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$362
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$311
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$316
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$439