Dushanbe vs Kathmandu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dushanbe	Kathmandu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$712	$427
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1759	$1087
🏠 One person rent	$316	$127
🏘️ Family rent	$549	$214
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$182
🚐 Transport expenses	$36.1	$69.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$140	$253
😷 Air quality	Bad	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	2 km
🎓 Higher education	35	28
😀 Quality of life	42	51
🏙️ Population	863K	846K

The cost of living in Dushanbe is 67% more expensive than in Kathmandu. Cities ranked 7031st and 8921st ($712 vs $427) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Tajikistan and Nepal, respectively. Check Tajikistan vs Nepal comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Dushanbe compared to 0.6 months in Kathmandu. Dushanbe ranked 1st best city to live in Tajikistan vs Kathmandu ranked 1st in Nepal, while ranked 7474th and 6559th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dushanbe vs Kathmandu infographic

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Prices in Dushanbe vs Kathmandu

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

	Dushanbe	Kathmandu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.97	$1.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$15.2	$18.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.96	$6.36
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.08	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$1.99	$1.76
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.6	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$402	$158
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$229	$84.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$739	$284
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$413	$150
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.4	$19
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$52.9	$29.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17.6	$8.19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	25.66%	11.29%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1032	$1810
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$658	$1154
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.27	$0.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.8	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.69	$13.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.11	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.57	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$0.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.83	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$8.96
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$3.14
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$6.14
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.16
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.02	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$1.21
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.67
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.72	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$0.65
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$0.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.39	$1.71
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.3	$6.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.54	$2.32
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.25	$2.81
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.92	$1.22
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.34	$2.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.96	$0.9
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.71	$0.69
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.3	$21.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.46	$3.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$85.8	$21.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.29	$2.68
👖 Brand Jeans	$33.1	$22.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.5	$58.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$108	$75.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7848	$3066

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 Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$350
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$293
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$328
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$293
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$386
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$298
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$321
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$320
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$281
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$316
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$284
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$297
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$297
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$279
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$273
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$298
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$918
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$276
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$450
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$297
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$311
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$420
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$300
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$297
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$308
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$339
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$289
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$289
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$286
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$383
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$369
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$294
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$289
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$367
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$287
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$320
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$348