Islamabad vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Islamabad	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$439	$387
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1168	$1009
🏠 One person rent	$198	$122
🏘️ Family rent	$457	$227
🍽️ Food expenses	$150	$177
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.4	$32.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$256	$570
😷 Air quality	Bad	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	26 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	67	5
😀 Quality of life	49	50
🏙️ Population	1.01M	115K

The cost of living in Islamabad is 13% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 8895th and 9013th ($439 vs $387) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 2nd in Pakistan and Bhutan, respectively. Check Pakistan vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Islamabad compared to 1.5 months in Thimphu. Islamabad ranked 2nd best city to live in Pakistan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6293rd and 6232nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Islamabad vs Thimphu infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Islamabad vs Thimphu

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

	Islamabad	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.79	$2.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.1	$16.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.44	$3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.8	$6.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.06	$1.54
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.35	$0.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$174	$119
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$92	$65.3
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$505	$222
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$286	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.4	$13.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$21.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.6	$32.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.49%	9.56%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$625
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$493	$869
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$1.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$6.82	$4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.32	$15.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.66	$0.97
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.74
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.26	$2.25
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.35	$3.43
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.57	$3.93
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$4.33
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$2.39
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$0.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.4	$0.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$0.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.26	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.8	$1.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.64	$3.55
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.9	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.13	$3.92
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.9	$1.64
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.47	$3.7
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.1	$1.27
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.62	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.2	$49.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.31	$3.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.9	$29.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.01	$3.33
👖 Brand Jeans	$20.4	$33.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$83.2	$32.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$59.7	$251
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3133	$691

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	$376
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$323
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$328
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$372
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$341
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$277
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$354
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$338
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$374
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$330
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$388
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$456
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$380
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$335
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$344
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$280
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$373
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$308
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$376
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$358
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$319
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$406
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$292
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$344
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$500
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$312
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$407
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$441
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$310
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$469
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$378
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$599
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$358
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$360
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$430
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$371
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$476
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$273
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$457
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$397

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$455
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$314
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$298
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$293
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$930
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$331
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$312
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$370
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$339
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$359
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$311
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$997
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$303
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$282
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$390
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$311
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$256
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$297
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$268
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$279
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$296
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$321
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$309
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$271
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$290
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$443
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$428
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$380
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$301
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$294
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$311
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$294
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$335
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$290
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$307
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$356
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$288
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$273
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$284