Dushanbe vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dushanbe	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$712	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1759	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$316	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$549	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$36.1	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$140	$516
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	35	43
😀 Quality of life	42	61
🏙️ Population	863K	1.4M

The cost of living in Dushanbe is 18% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 7031st and 6373rd ($712 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Tajikistan and Mongolia, respectively. Check Tajikistan vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Dushanbe compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Dushanbe ranked 1st best city to live in Tajikistan vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 7474th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dushanbe vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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

Prices in Dushanbe vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Dushanbe	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.97	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$15.2	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.96	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.08	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$1.99	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.6	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$402	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$229	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$739	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$413	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.4	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$52.9	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17.6	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	25.66%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1032	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$658	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.27	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.8	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.69	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.11	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.57	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.83	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.02	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.72	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.39	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.3	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.54	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.25	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.92	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.34	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.96	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.71	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.3	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.46	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$85.8	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.29	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$33.1	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.5	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$108	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7848	$6621

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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600