Istanbul vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Istanbul	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1328	$1010
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3415	$2467
🏠 One person rent	$687	$555
🏘️ Family rent	$1209	$956
🍽️ Food expenses	$354	$325
🚐 Transport expenses	$169	$35.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1177	$512
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	95	8
😀 Quality of life	79	55
🏙️ Population	15.7M	77.6K

The cost of living in Istanbul is 31% more expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 4475th and 5497th ($1328 vs $1010) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Turkey and Thailand, respectively. Check Turkey vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.9 months in Istanbul compared to 0.5 months in Phuket. Istanbul ranked 1st best city to live in Turkey vs Phuket ranked 9th in Thailand, while ranked 829th and 6330th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$10	$5.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$47.9	$40.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.57	$9.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.56	$2.46
☕ Cappuccino	$4.15	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.67	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$894	$650
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$548	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1617	$1157
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$983	$761
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.4	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$83.7	$96.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$15.4	$19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	41.66%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3154	$3728
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1658	$2603
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$1.53
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$60	$23.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.5	$11.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.73	$1.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.59
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.52	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$19.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.25	$3.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21.5	$11.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.92	$3.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.35	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.3
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$2.17
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.57	$1.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.4	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$1.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.2	$19.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$1.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.22	$4.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.02	$3.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.24	$2.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.99	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.95	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.2	$53.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.01	$7.75
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.2	$29.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.59	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.6	$64.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$97.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1014	$565
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23206	$13979

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	$651
46 km or 28 mi	Gebze	$634
73 km or 45 mi	Korfez	$790
79 km or 49 mi	Kocaeli	$824
83 km or 51 mi	Golcuk	$807
87 km or 54 mi	Izmit	$899
91 km or 56 mi	Kapakli	$731
92 km or 57 mi	Bursa	$866
96 km or 59 mi	Kartepe	$812
98 km or 61 mi	Corlu	$692
111 km or 69 mi	Bandirma	$724
113 km or 70 mi	Inegol	$763
121 km or 75 mi	Tekirdag	$593
124 km or 77 mi	Adapazari	$598
124 km or 77 mi	Sakarya	$710
129 km or 80 mi	Bilecik	$764
141 km or 88 mi	Luleburgaz	$679
166 km or 103 mi	Kirklareli	$522
176 km or 110 mi	Balikesir	$750
186 km or 115 mi	Duzce	$656
190 km or 118 mi	Eskisehir	$747
192 km or 120 mi	Uzunkopru	$830
197 km or 122 mi	Kutahya	$606
207 km or 129 mi	Burgas	$855
208 km or 129 mi	Karadeniz Eregli	$710
214 km or 133 mi	Edirne	$1201
224 km or 139 mi	Bolu	$713
234 km or 145 mi	Soma	$741
236 km or 147 mi	Canakkale	$699
259 km or 161 mi	Varna	$1140
260 km or 162 mi	Alexandroupoli	$1030
261 km or 162 mi	Yambol	$676
261 km or 162 mi	Usak	$702
284 km or 177 mi	Afyonkarahisar	$641
287 km or 178 mi	Sliven	$610
290 km or 180 mi	Salihli	$743
290 km or 180 mi	Bartin	$702
295 km or 184 mi	Manisa	$743
296 km or 184 mi	Mytilene	$1060
299 km or 186 mi	Komotini	$1020

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992