Kabul vs Kathmandu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kabul	Kathmandu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$474	$419
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1052	$1077
🏠 One person rent	$203	$131
🏘️ Family rent	$302	$240
🍽️ Food expenses	$158	$181
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.8	$62.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$218	$238
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	2 km
🎓 Higher education	30	28
😀 Quality of life	14	46
🏙️ Population	4.27M	846K

The cost of living in Kabul is 13% more expensive than in Kathmandu. Cities ranked 8769th and 8918th ($474 vs $419) 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 0.5 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 9071st and 6495th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

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	$2.38	$1.44
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$9.34	$18.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.64	$6.47
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.11	$2.57
☕ Cappuccino	$1.53	$1.81
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.32	$0.48
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$140	$162
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$90	$84.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$296
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$141	$173
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.2	$21.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$66.8	$32.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$59.8	$9.58
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.54%	12.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$404	$2191
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$202	$1059
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.2	$0.22
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.8	$10.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.27	$10.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.88	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.27	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$0.9
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.39	$1.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$8.84
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.8	$3.13
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.88	$5.67
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$2.31
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$1.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$0.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.39	$0.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$0.67
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.2	$0.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.88	$1.76
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.12	$7.27
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$2.23
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.38	$2.87
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.97	$1.24
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.48	$2.53
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$0.92
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.37	$0.69
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$12.8	$22.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.15	$3.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13.2	$15.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.79	$2.77
👖 Brand Jeans	$16.1	$23.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.4	$53.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$17.2	$85.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1356	$3409

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$386
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$303
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$389
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$366
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$346
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$394
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$366
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$364
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$408
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$382
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$442
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$596
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$414
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$458
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$593
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$605
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$354
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$468
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$389
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$273
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$342
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$306
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$373
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$354
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$266
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$392
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$305
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$361
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$281
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$321
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$476

Cities near Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$341
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$294
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$321
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$292
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$391
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$300
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$316
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$292
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$317
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$300
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$312
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$299
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$297
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$308
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$309
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$900
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$329
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$459
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$308
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$296
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$422
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$314
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$307
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$296
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$366
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$300
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$299
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$384
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$375
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$304
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$292
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$370
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$280
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$315
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$361