Kabul vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$1627
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$3576
🏠 One person rent	$195	$931
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$1463
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$2496
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	21 km
🎓 Higher education	30	73
😀 Quality of life	33	80
🏙️ Population	4.27M	7.01M

The cost of living in Kabul is 72% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 8842nd and 3418th ($458 vs $1627) 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 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 1.5 months in Riyadh. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 8609th and 759th 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	$2.45	$7.98
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$53.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$8.06
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$1.86
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$4.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.78
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$1007
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$738
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$1807
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$1160
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$64.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$99.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$74.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	5.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$2939
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$2197
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$37.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$0.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$2.46
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$2.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$8.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$10.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$14.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1.66
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$1.27
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$9.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$1.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$7.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$2.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$4.67
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$2.36
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$101
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$51.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$7.99
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$58.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$451
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$9818

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 Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$967
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$862
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$908
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1008
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$930
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$873
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1201
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1230
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1008
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1849
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1770
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1454
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$825
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$726
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$730
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$453
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$719
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$549
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$889
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$542
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$918
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$477
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$521
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$669
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1182
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$503
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$483
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$583
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$571
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1162
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$553
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$681
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$903
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$530
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$463