Kabul vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$4203
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$9136
🏠 One person rent	$195	$2713
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$4396
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$874
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$379
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$5599
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	30	100
😀 Quality of life	33	98
🏙️ Population	4.27M	8.8M

The cost of living in Kabul is 89% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 8842nd and 4th ($458 vs $4203) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in Afghanistan and the United States, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs New York City ranked 1st in the United States, while ranked 8609th and 11th 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 New York City infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs New York City

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

	Kabul	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.45	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$92.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$8.67
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$6.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$3.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$3669
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$2221
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$5076
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$3880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$137
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$211
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$66.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$15299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$11127
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$2.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$134
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$25
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$0.9
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.58
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$4.49
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$6.71
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$7.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$19.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$15.9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$19.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$7.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$2.5
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$5.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$6.35
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$3.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$3.71
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$1.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$3.76
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$18.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$4.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$18.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$23.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$13.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$8.03
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$2.87
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$128
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$20.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$157
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$37.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$63.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$119
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$1884
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$22663

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 New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2569
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3364
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3066
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2913
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2733
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3253
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2717
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2783
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2727
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2725
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2735
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2811
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2671
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2712
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2765
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2538
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2688
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2756
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2545
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2475
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2614
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2647
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2770
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2705
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2513
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2749
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2774
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2695
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2769
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2655
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2730
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2718
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2609
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2506
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2723
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2911
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2779
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2680
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2470
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3174