Kabul vs Kathmandu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	Kathmandu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$427
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$1087
🏠 One person rent	$195	$127
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$214
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$182
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$69.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$253
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	2 km
🎓 Higher education	30	28
😀 Quality of life	33	51
🏙️ Population	4.27M	846K

The cost of living in Kabul is 7% more expensive than in Kathmandu. Cities ranked 8842nd and 8921st ($458 vs $427) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in Afghanistan and Nepal, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs Nepal comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 0.6 months in Kathmandu. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Kathmandu ranked 1st in Nepal, while ranked 8609th and 6559th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kabul vs Kathmandu infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs Kathmandu

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

	Kabul	Kathmandu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.45	$1.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$18.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$6.36
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$1.76
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$158
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$84.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$284
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$150
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$19
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$29.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$8.19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	11.29%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$1810
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$1154
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$13.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$0.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$8.96
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$3.14
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$6.14
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$2.16
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.21
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$0.67
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$0.65
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$1.71
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$6.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$2.32
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$2.81
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$1.22
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$2.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$0.9
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$0.69
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$21.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$3.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$21.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$2.68
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$22.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$58.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$75.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$3066

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 Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$350
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$293
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$328
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$293
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$386
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$298
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$321
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$320
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$281
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$316
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$284
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$297
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$297
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$279
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$273
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$298
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$918
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$276
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$450
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$297
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$311
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$420
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$300
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$297
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$308
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$339
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$289
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$289
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$286
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$383
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$369
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$294
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$289
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$367
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$287
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$320
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$348