Istanbul vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Istanbul	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1248	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3224	$3111
🏠 One person rent	$649	$519
🏘️ Family rent	$1199	$1664
🍽️ Food expenses	$354	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$125	$29.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$883	$718
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	95	7
😀 Quality of life	76	53
🏙️ Population	15.7M	77.6K

The cost of living in Istanbul is 33% more expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 4347th and 5827th ($1248 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Turkey and Thailand, respectively. Check Turkey vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Istanbul compared to 0.8 months in Phuket. Istanbul ranked 1st best city to live in Turkey vs Phuket ranked 7th in Thailand, while ranked 850th and 6063rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Istanbul vs Phuket

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

	Istanbul	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11	$5.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.1	$36
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.29	$7.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.14	$2.68
☕ Cappuccino	$3.37	$2.39
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.38	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$853	$504
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$529	$403
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$1891
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$985	$1436
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.3	$79.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.7	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$13.4	$16.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	47.81%	6.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3233	$4059
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1719	$2821
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.74	$1.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.7	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.79	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.11	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$1.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.36	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.72	$20.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.14	$3.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.1	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$3.05
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$1.33
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.61	$1.44
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.61	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.49	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.1	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.18	$1.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.19	$4.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$3.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.23	$2.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.91	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.38	$1.4
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$54.7	$56.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.81	$8.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.3	$28.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.76	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.1	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$98.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$815	$723
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17728	$13013

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	$599
46 km or 28 mi	Gebze	$573
73 km or 45 mi	Korfez	$782
79 km or 49 mi	Kocaeli	$718
83 km or 51 mi	Golcuk	$835
87 km or 54 mi	Izmit	$1113
91 km or 56 mi	Kapakli	$701
92 km or 57 mi	Bursa	$743
96 km or 59 mi	Kartepe	$872
98 km or 61 mi	Corlu	$690
111 km or 69 mi	Bandirma	$679
113 km or 70 mi	Inegol	$708
121 km or 75 mi	Tekirdag	$661
124 km or 77 mi	Adapazari	$455
124 km or 77 mi	Sakarya	$547
129 km or 80 mi	Bilecik	$755
141 km or 88 mi	Luleburgaz	$661
166 km or 103 mi	Kirklareli	$642
176 km or 110 mi	Balikesir	$707
186 km or 115 mi	Duzce	$535
190 km or 118 mi	Eskisehir	$691
192 km or 120 mi	Uzunkopru	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Kutahya	$568
207 km or 129 mi	Burgas	$721
208 km or 129 mi	Karadeniz Eregli	$626
214 km or 133 mi	Edirne	$624
224 km or 139 mi	Bolu	$616
234 km or 145 mi	Soma	$679
236 km or 147 mi	Canakkale	$690
259 km or 161 mi	Varna	$892
260 km or 162 mi	Alexandroupoli	$911
261 km or 162 mi	Yambol	$546
261 km or 162 mi	Usak	$629
284 km or 177 mi	Afyonkarahisar	$464
287 km or 178 mi	Sliven	$631
290 km or 180 mi	Salihli	$677
290 km or 180 mi	Bartin	$710
295 km or 184 mi	Manisa	$638
296 km or 184 mi	Mytilene	$934
299 km or 186 mi	Komotini	$899

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$792
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$782
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$563
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$763
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$560
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$570
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$705
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$730
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$777
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$490
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$620
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$619
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$461
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$695
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$628
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$481
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$470
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$576
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$656
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$752
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$781
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$670
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$645
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$755
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$677
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$743
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810