Kabul vs Karachi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	Karachi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$430
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$1029
🏠 One person rent	$195	$168
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$274
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$146
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$71.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$132
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	30	63
😀 Quality of life	33	54
🏙️ Population	4.27M	14.9M

The cost of living in Kabul is 7% more expensive than in Karachi. Cities ranked 8842nd and 8915th ($458 vs $430) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 0.3 months in Karachi. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Karachi ranked 1st in Pakistan, while ranked 8609th and 6371st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kabul vs Karachi infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs Karachi

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

	Kabul	Karachi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.45	$1.75
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$12.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$4.41
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$2.05
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$115
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$71.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$204
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$133
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$75.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$115
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$12.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	16.46%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$579
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$371
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.32
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$8.76
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$6.37
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$0.92
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$0.81
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$0.57
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$1.13
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$6.72
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$3.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$5.37
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$1.09
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$0.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$0.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$0.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$0.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$0.38
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.27
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$0.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$1.24
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$1.27
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$2.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$1.76
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$3.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$1.35
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$0.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$15.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$4.27
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$11.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$1.95
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$18.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$63.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$67.6
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$1491

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$401
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$354
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$396
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$393
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$334
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$364
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$428
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$354
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$351
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$344
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$443
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$432
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$376
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$712
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$277
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$436
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$294
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$372
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$265
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$351
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$363
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$333
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$320
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$340
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$291
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$403
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$303
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$302
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$362
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$311
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$316
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$439

Cities near Karachi

Distance	City	Cost of living
148 km or 92 mi	Hyderabad	$382
208 km or 129 mi	Nawabshah	$324
213 km or 132 mi	Mirpur Khas	$395
324 km or 201 mi	Larkana	$336
324 km or 201 mi	Bhuj	$290
366 km or 227 mi	Sukkur	$340
406 km or 252 mi	Jacobabad	$322
445 km or 277 mi	Porbandar	$330
480 km or 298 mi	Rajkot	$324
564 km or 351 mi	Mehsana	$382
593 km or 368 mi	Quetta	$291
601 km or 374 mi	Ahmedabad	$442
604 km or 375 mi	Gandhinagar	$407
626 km or 389 mi	Bhavnagar	$291
629 km or 391 mi	Jodhpur	$322
643 km or 399 mi	Pali	$305
643 km or 399 mi	Nadiad	$375
645 km or 401 mi	Chabahar	$573
675 km or 419 mi	Udaipur	$315
679 km or 422 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
683 km or 425 mi	Bahawalpur	$301
683 km or 425 mi	Iranshahr	$624
692 km or 430 mi	Vadodara	$374
711 km or 442 mi	Godhra	$366
719 km or 447 mi	Bikaner	$290
723 km or 449 mi	Surat	$705
736 km or 457 mi	Multan	$403
745 km or 463 mi	Navsari	$278
761 km or 473 mi	Kandahar	$436
769 km or 478 mi	Bhilwara	$328
775 km or 482 mi	Khanewal	$362
785 km or 488 mi	Ajmer	$274
792 km or 492 mi	Lashkargah	$439
796 km or 494 mi	Zahedan	$808
812 km or 504 mi	Burewala	$347
836 km or 519 mi	Ratlam	$303
845 km or 525 mi	Vasai	$267
865 km or 537 mi	Muscat	$1081
866 km or 538 mi	Sikar	$335
874 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$558