Istanbul vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Istanbul	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1125	$599
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2885	$1271
🏠 One person rent	$587	$285
🏘️ Family rent	$1119	$403
🍽️ Food expenses	$308	$182
🚐 Transport expenses	$117	$96.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$820	$188
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	95	29
😀 Quality of life	77	13
🏙️ Population	15.5M	4.27M

The cost of living in Istanbul is 88% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 4816th and 7801st ($1125 vs $599) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Turkey and Afghanistan, respectively. Check Turkey vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Istanbul compared to 0.3 months in Kabul. Istanbul ranked 1st best city to live in Turkey vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 790th and 9123rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Istanbul vs Kabul infographic

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

Prices in Istanbul vs Kabul

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

	Istanbul	Kabul
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.84	$2.69
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$41	$8.83
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.35	$6.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.29	$3.75
☕ Cappuccino	$3.27	$1.82
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.42	$0.38
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$769	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$475	$123
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1529	$381
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$921	$182
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.5	$53.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.2	$82.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12.9	$99.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	45.66%	21.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3275	$451
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1719	$274
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.58	$0.36
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39.7	$19.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.27	$9.29
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$0.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$0.88
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.8	$0.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.94	$1.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.45	$4.73
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.14	$4.07
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$6.69
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$0.74
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.14	$0.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$0.89
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$0.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.66	$0.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.57	$0.32
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.27	$0.24
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.49	$0.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.7	$10
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.02	$1.62
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.01	$2.56
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.18	$3.24
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.25	$3.81
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$1.09
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$1.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45.2	$13.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.86	$2.34
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$70.6	$13.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.8	$2.99
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.8	$13.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$46.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$626	$23.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13982	$1452

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Istanbul

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Cayirova	$594
46 km or 28 mi	Gebze	$579
73 km or 45 mi	Korfez	$643
79 km or 49 mi	Kocaeli	$695
83 km or 51 mi	Golcuk	$642
87 km or 54 mi	Izmit	$652
91 km or 56 mi	Kapakli	$683
92 km or 57 mi	Bursa	$789
96 km or 59 mi	Kartepe	$633
98 km or 61 mi	Corlu	$694
111 km or 69 mi	Bandirma	$655
113 km or 70 mi	Inegol	$690
121 km or 75 mi	Tekirdag	$705
124 km or 77 mi	Adapazari	$502
124 km or 77 mi	Sakarya	$605
129 km or 80 mi	Bilecik	$692
141 km or 88 mi	Luleburgaz	$646
166 km or 103 mi	Kirklareli	$596
176 km or 110 mi	Balikesir	$584
186 km or 115 mi	Duzce	$461
190 km or 118 mi	Eskisehir	$716
192 km or 120 mi	Uzunkopru	$645
197 km or 122 mi	Kutahya	$700
207 km or 129 mi	Burgas	$573
208 km or 129 mi	Karadeniz Eregli	$589
214 km or 133 mi	Edirne	$635
224 km or 139 mi	Bolu	$599
234 km or 145 mi	Soma	$642
236 km or 147 mi	Canakkale	$668
259 km or 161 mi	Varna	$931
260 km or 162 mi	Alexandroupoli	$999
261 km or 162 mi	Yambol	$561
261 km or 162 mi	Usak	$648
284 km or 177 mi	Afyonkarahisar	$463
287 km or 178 mi	Sliven	$624
290 km or 180 mi	Salihli	$657
290 km or 180 mi	Bartin	$672
295 km or 184 mi	Manisa	$612
296 km or 184 mi	Mytilene	$899
299 km or 186 mi	Komotini	$985

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$469
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$358
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$476
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$441
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$457
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$338
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$374
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$467
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$372
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$354
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$323
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$439
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$659
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$376
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$450
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$456
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$655
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$672
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$328
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$341
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$521
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$373
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$277
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$344
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$319
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$330
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$273
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$388
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$285
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$371
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$312
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$280
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$358
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$335
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$376
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$308
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$487