Kabul vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kabul	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$474	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1052	$3629
🏠 One person rent	$203	$944
🏘️ Family rent	$302	$1530
🍽️ Food expenses	$158	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.8	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$218	$2731
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	30	72
😀 Quality of life	14	78
🏙️ Population	4.27M	7.01M

The cost of living in Kabul is 71% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 8769th and 2911th ($474 vs $1637) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Kabul compared to 1.7 months in Riyadh. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 9071st and 733rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Kabul vs Riyadh infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs Riyadh

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

	Kabul	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.38	$9.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$9.34	$53.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.64	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.11	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$1.53	$4.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.32	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$140	$1001
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$90	$748
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$2174
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$141	$1140
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.2	$69.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$66.8	$107
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$59.8	$75.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.54%	5.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$404	$2485
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$202	$1703
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.2	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.8	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.27	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.88	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.27	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.39	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$8.14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.8	$9.75
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.88	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$1.7
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$1.86
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.39	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.2	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.88	$2.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.12	$8.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.38	$7.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.97	$2.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.48	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$2.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.37	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$12.8	$102
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.15	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13.2	$52.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.79	$7.23
👖 Brand Jeans	$16.1	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.4	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$17.2	$404
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1356	$10598

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 Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529