Islamabad vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Islamabad	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$443	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1034	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$199	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$328	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$158	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.5	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$155	$516
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	26 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	69	43
😀 Quality of life	50	61
🏙️ Population	1.01M	1.4M

The cost of living in Islamabad is 49% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 8887th and 6373rd ($443 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Pakistan and Mongolia, respectively. Check Pakistan vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Islamabad compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Islamabad ranked 3rd best city to live in Pakistan vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 6597th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Islamabad vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Islamabad	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.83	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$14.2	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.36	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.38	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$187	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$98.8	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$338	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$178	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$65.4	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$101	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17.5	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.73%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1311	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$775	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.39	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.05	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.69	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.22	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.37	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.1	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.46	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.82	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.38	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.26	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.76	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.75	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.72	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.13	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.17	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.64	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.15	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$20.4	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.22	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$11	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$1.86	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$21.6	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$80.7	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$61.1	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2738	$6621

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	$416
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$344
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$277
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$354
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$265
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$351
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$334
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$364
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$320
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$340
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$376
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$363
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$311
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$284
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$302
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$372
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$316
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$354
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$333
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$427
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$294
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$351
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$380
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$303
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$350
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$393
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$291
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$401
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$337
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$458
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$362
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$347
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$421
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$403
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$396
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$373

Cities near Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600