Islamabad vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Islamabad	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$496	$4202
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1174	$9189
🏠 One person rent	$228	$2718
🏘️ Family rent	$388	$4417
🍽️ Food expenses	$168	$842
🚐 Transport expenses	$42.6	$400
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$146	$5389
😷 Air quality	Bad	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	70	100
😀 Quality of life	50	95
🏙️ Population	1.01M	8.8M

The cost of living in Islamabad is 88% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 8685th and 4th ($496 vs $4202) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Pakistan and the United States, respectively. Check Pakistan vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Islamabad compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Islamabad ranked 4th best city to live in Pakistan vs New York City ranked 2nd in the United States, while ranked 6656th and 15th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/islamabad/new-york.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Islamabad vs New York City infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/islamabad/new-york" target="_blank">Islamabad vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Islamabad vs New York City

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

	Islamabad	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.5	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$19	$90
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.41	$13.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.79	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.38	$6.22
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.38	$3.28
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$243	$3692
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$126	$2206
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$449	$5140
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$233	$3874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.5	$144
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.9	$218
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$16.2	$70.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.59%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1529	$18073
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$645	$7831
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$3.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.3	$138
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.85	$27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.98	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.75	$4.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$5.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.23	$6.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.82	$16.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$14.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.98	$18.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$6.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$5.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$6.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.31	$3.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$3.96
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.26	$1.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.77	$3.57
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.95	$19.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$4.61
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.36	$18.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.19	$23.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.68	$14
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.17	$8.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.7	$2.86
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.3	$132
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.82	$21.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$11	$159
💇 Haircut, simple	$1.91	$40.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$22.3	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.7	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$81.5	$2095
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3550	$21713

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Islamabad

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Rawalpindi	$446
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$371
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$280
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$373
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$350
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$253
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$373
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$321
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$394
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$335
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$344
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$391
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$382
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$313
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$286
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$309
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$393
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$332
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$396
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$381
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$359
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$450
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$306
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$379
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$397
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$339
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$371
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$438
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$340
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$456
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$346
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$504
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$401
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$350
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$391
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$440
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$447
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$278
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$447
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$379

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192