Islamabad vs Karaj - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Islamabad	Karaj
🚶 Cost of living one person	$442	$736
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1170	$1758
🏠 One person rent	$199	$387
🏘️ Family rent	$457	$633
🍽️ Food expenses	$156	$204
🚐 Transport expenses	$34.9	$35.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$261	$245
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	26 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	69	76
😀 Quality of life	49	55
🏙️ Population	1.01M	1.59M

The cost of living in Islamabad is 40% less expensive than in Karaj. Cities ranked 8870th and 6734th ($442 vs $736) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th in Pakistan and Iran, respectively. Check Pakistan vs Iran comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Islamabad compared to 0.3 months in Karaj. Islamabad ranked 2nd best city to live in Pakistan vs Karaj ranked 2nd in Iran, while ranked 6313th and 5911th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Islamabad vs Karaj infographic

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Prices in Islamabad vs Karaj

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

	Islamabad	Karaj
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.13	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$17.7	$17.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.22	$4.01
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$0.6
☕ Cappuccino	$2.08	$1.1
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.39	$0.44
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$293
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$94.4	$392
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$514	$882
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$283	$547
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.9	$8.55
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$13.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.9	$5.95
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.86%	21.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1142	$1254
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$682	$628
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$0.2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$6.78	$13
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.25	$2.56
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$0.75
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.93	$0.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.67	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.86
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.28	$1.1
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.57	$3.42
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.52	$3.49
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$10.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$0.86
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.41
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$0.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$0.47
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.44	$0.43
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.27	$0.13
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.8	$0.75
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$2.56	$0.76
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.59	$0.47
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.13	$2.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.9	$16.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.59	$4.32
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.1	$2.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$1.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$21.2	$20
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.31	$1.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$116
💇 Haircut, simple	$1.71	$8.04
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.4	$24.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.1	$97.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$64.6	$130
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2961	$823

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Islamabad

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$382
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$354
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$366
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$273
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$364
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$346
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$379
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$373
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$354
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$458
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$380
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$281
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$287
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$308
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$389
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$321
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$303
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$306
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$411
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$292
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$342
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$383
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$305
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$355
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$366
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$300
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$386
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$358
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$474
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$361
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$356
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$441
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$392
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$389
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$369

Cities near Karaj

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Mohammadshahr	$688
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Kamal Shahr	$686
10 km or 6.5 mi	Fardis	$688
13 km or 8.3 mi	Andisheh	$684
17 km or 10 mi	Qods	$698
17 km or 10 mi	Malard	$693
19 km or 12 mi	Shahriar	$698
33 km or 21 mi	Nasimshahr	$697
36 km or 22 mi	Nazarabad	$645
38 km or 24 mi	Eslamshahr	$700
38 km or 24 mi	Robat Karim	$675
43 km or 26 mi	Tehran	$788
46 km or 28 mi	Golestan	$714
50 km or 31 mi	Ray	$710
69 km or 43 mi	Qarchak	$681
74 km or 46 mi	Pakdasht	$680
77 km or 48 mi	Pardis	$665
79 km or 49 mi	Khak-e Ali	$599
87 km or 54 mi	Varamin	$651
100 km or 62 mi	Qazvin	$618
104 km or 65 mi	Saveh	$574
130 km or 81 mi	Qom	$488
144 km or 90 mi	Amol	$557
174 km or 108 mi	Babol	$458
177 km or 110 mi	Lahijan	$552
185 km or 115 mi	Qaem Shahr	$554
204 km or 127 mi	Rasht	$534
205 km or 128 mi	Sari	$658
208 km or 129 mi	Kashan	$562
220 km or 137 mi	Semnan	$580
225 km or 140 mi	Arak	$455
242 km or 150 mi	Zanjan	$466
249 km or 155 mi	Hamadan	$443
259 km or 161 mi	Malayer	$469
294 km or 183 mi	Borujerd	$505
311 km or 193 mi	Dorud	$513
333 km or 207 mi	Shahin Shahr	$507
334 km or 208 mi	Gorgan	$685
350 km or 218 mi	Khomeyni Shahr	$510
354 km or 220 mi	Khorramabad	$554