Kabul vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Kabul	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$473	$1632
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1051	$3539
🏠 One person rent	$200	$946
🏘️ Family rent	$280	$1446
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$370
🚐 Transport expenses	$75.2	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$120	$2285
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	21 km
🎓 Higher education	33	70
😀 Quality of life	25	78
🏙️ Population	5.33M	7.01M

The cost of living in Kabul is 71% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 8823rd and 3529th ($473 vs $1632) 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 0.3 months in Kabul compared to 1.4 months in Riyadh. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 8992nd and 879th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

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	$2.79	$8.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$9.56	$53.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.12	$7.94
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.79	$1.62
☕ Cappuccino	$1.38	$4.33
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.39	$0.79
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$108	$1000
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$72.2	$763
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$196	$1845
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$127	$1133
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$35	$63.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.5	$98.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$85.8	$72.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.8%	5.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$579	$2922
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$300	$1930
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.19	$1.08
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.2	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.53	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.61
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.25	$1.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$2.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.57	$2.69
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$8.76
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.05	$9.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.32	$15.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.68
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.85	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.25	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.02	$2.39
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$2.07	$8.07
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.87	$1.77
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.79	$7.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.37	$2.71
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.97	$4.31
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.16	$2.38
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.55	$5.23
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$11.7	$93.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.45	$14.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.6	$51.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.13	$8.02
👖 Brand Jeans	$15.1	$57
👟 Brand Sneakers	$39.8	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$20.2	$495
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1540	$9443

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	$433
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$368
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$425
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$423
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$429
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$454
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$370
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$369
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$488
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$360
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$464
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$704
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$427
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$457
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$381
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$702
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$735
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$279
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$338
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$463
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$302
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$378
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$264
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$367
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$371
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$348
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$330
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$257
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$353
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$298
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$417
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$318
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$382
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$308
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$379
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$326
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$467

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$793
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$931
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$815
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$931
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1037
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$928
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$823
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1109
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1192
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1309
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1281
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1005
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$2014
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1923
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1461
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$775
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$711
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$707
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$465
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$698
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$556
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$861
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$551
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$906
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$489
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$537
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1710
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$664
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1168
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$523
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$492
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$581
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$571
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$2070
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1107
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$565
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$680
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$893
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$545
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$487