Kabul vs Male - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kabul	Male
🚶 Cost of living one person	$474	$1304
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1052	$3010
🏠 One person rent	$203	$814
🏘️ Family rent	$302	$1624
🍽️ Food expenses	$158	$358
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.8	$42
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$218	$1263
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	30	7
😀 Quality of life	14	62
🏙️ Population	4.27M	133K

The cost of living in Kabul is 64% less expensive than in Male. Cities ranked 8769th and 4205th ($474 vs $1304) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in Afghanistan and Maldives, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs Maldives comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Kabul compared to 1 months in Male. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Male ranked 1st in Maldives, while ranked 9071st and 4917th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Kabul vs Male

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

	Kabul	Male
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.38	$5.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$9.34	$27.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.64	$9.82
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.11	$4.57
☕ Cappuccino	$1.53	$3.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.32	$1.21
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$140	$824
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$90	$636
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$1648
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$141	$1401
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.2	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$66.8	$96.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$59.8	$77.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.54%	11.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$404	$2651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$202	$2231
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.2	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.8	$25.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.27	$17.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.88	$0.93
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.93
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.27	$1.59
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.39	$1.81
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$9.95
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.8	$5.82
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.88	$8.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$3.91
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$3.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$3.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$3.43
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.39	$1.54
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.2	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.88	$1.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.12	$9.79
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$2.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.38	$7.83
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.97	$5.32
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.48	$3.74
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$3.13
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.37	$1.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$12.8	$73.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.15	$8.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13.2	$22
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.79	$4.33
👖 Brand Jeans	$16.1	$51.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.4	$90.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$17.2	$163
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1356	$3201

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	$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 Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1651
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$333
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$287
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$275
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$244
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$273
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$306
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$383
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$346
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$580
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$631
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$294
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$627
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$498
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$467
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$429
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$502
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$306
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$310
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$325
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$316
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$339
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$425
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$344
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$582
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$300
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$295
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$314
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$302
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$311
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$304
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$412
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$546
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$280
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$533
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$306
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$351
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$342
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$360