Islamabad vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Islamabad	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$442	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1170	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$199	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$457	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$156	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$34.9	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$261	$550
😷 Air quality	Bad	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	26 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	69	5
😀 Quality of life	49	34
🏙️ Population	1.01M	115K

The cost of living in Islamabad is 5% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 8870th and 8915th ($442 vs $422) 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 1.3 months in Thimphu. Islamabad ranked 2nd best city to live in Pakistan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6313th and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Islamabad vs Thimphu infographic

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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	$2.13	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$17.7	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.22	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.08	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.39	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$94.4	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$514	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$283	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.9	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.9	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.86%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1142	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$682	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$6.78	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.25	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.93	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.67	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.28	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.57	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.52	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.44	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.27	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.8	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$2.56	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.59	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.13	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.9	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.59	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.1	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$21.2	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.31	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$1.71	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.4	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.1	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$64.6	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2961	$666

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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$459
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$312
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$296
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$296
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$900
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$317
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$309
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$342
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$323
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$335
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$307
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$963
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$300
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$280
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$408
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$308
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$264
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$292
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$305
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$292
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$304
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$295
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$297
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$419
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$341
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$430
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$367
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$309
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$294
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$281
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$321
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$289
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$294
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$316
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$292
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$299
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$300