Essen vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Essen	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1443	$474
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3513	$1052
🏠 One person rent	$690	$203
🏘️ Family rent	$1216	$302
🍽️ Food expenses	$461	$158
🚐 Transport expenses	$150	$81.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2980	$218
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	25 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	96	30
😀 Quality of life	94	14
🏙️ Population	587K	4.27M

The cost of living in Essen is 204% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 3685th and 8769th ($1443 vs $474) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 413th and 3rd in Germany and Afghanistan, respectively. Check Germany vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Essen compared to 0.5 months in Kabul. Essen ranked 5th best city to live in Germany vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 33rd and 9071st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Essen vs Kabul infographic

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Prices in Essen vs Kabul

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

	Essen	Kabul
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13	$2.38
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.2	$9.34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$4.64
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.01	$3.11
☕ Cappuccino	$3.1	$1.53
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.45	$0.32
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$574	$140
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$444	$90
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1177	$312
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$833	$141
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$180	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$274	$66.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.1	$59.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.97%	18.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4052	$404
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3401	$202
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.43	$0.2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56	$18.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$25.9	$7.27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.73	$0.88
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.76	$0.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.2	$1.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$4.36
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$3.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$5.88
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.74	$0.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$0.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$0.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.75	$0.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$0.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$0.41
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.2
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.85	$0.88
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.49	$8.12
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$1.49
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.99	$2.38
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$2.97
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.46	$3.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.42	$1.01
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.44	$1.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.7	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$2.15
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$80.3	$13.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.6	$2.79
👖 Brand Jeans	$89.2	$16.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.3	$34.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$417	$17.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8902	$1356

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Essen

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.5 km or 5.9 mi	Gelsenkirchen	$1418
9.6 km or 6 mi	Mulheim	$1434
10 km or 6.3 mi	Bottrop	$1367
11 km or 7.1 mi	Oberhausen	$1485
12 km or 7.8 mi	Velbert	$1428
13 km or 8.3 mi	Hattingen	$1444
14 km or 8.4 mi	Gladbeck	$1422
14 km or 8.8 mi	Heiligenhaus	$1444
15 km or 9 mi	Bochum	$1486
18 km or 11 mi	Herne	$1559
18 km or 11 mi	Duisburg	$1314
19 km or 12 mi	Herten	$1438
19 km or 12 mi	Wulfrath	$1433
19 km or 12 mi	Sprockhovel	$1431
20 km or 13 mi	Ratingen	$1497
22 km or 14 mi	Witten	$1489
23 km or 14 mi	Recklinghausen	$1407
23 km or 14 mi	Mettmann	$1479
23 km or 14 mi	Dinslaken	$1430
24 km or 15 mi	Dorsten	$1430
24 km or 15 mi	Castrop-Rauxel	$1464
24 km or 15 mi	Wuppertal	$1233
25 km or 16 mi	Marl	$1435
26 km or 16 mi	Erkrath	$1516
27 km or 17 mi	Schwelm	$1404
27 km or 17 mi	Oer-Erkenschwick	$1432
27 km or 17 mi	Moers	$1439
27 km or 17 mi	Wetter	$1451
28 km or 17 mi	Gevelsberg	$1435
28 km or 18 mi	Voerde	$1434
28 km or 18 mi	Ennepetal	$1431
29 km or 18 mi	Haan	$1517
30 km or 18 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772
30 km or 18 mi	Herdecke	$1455
30 km or 19 mi	Rheinberg	$1435
31 km or 20 mi	Hilden	$1522
32 km or 20 mi	Neukirchen-Vluyn	$1445
32 km or 20 mi	Waltrop	$1459
32 km or 20 mi	Solingen	$1580
32 km or 20 mi	Datteln	$1448

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$386
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$303
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$389
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$366
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$346
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$394
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$366
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$364
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$408
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$382
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$442
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$596
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$414
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$458
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$593
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$605
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$354
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$468
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$389
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$273
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$342
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$306
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$373
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$354
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$266
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$392
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$305
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$361
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$281
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$321
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$476