Kabul vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$878
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$2307
🏠 One person rent	$195	$456
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$808
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$253
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$83.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$969
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	30	96
😀 Quality of life	33	78
🏙️ Population	4.27M	17.5M

The cost of living in Kabul is 48% less expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 8842nd and 6334th ($458 vs $878) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 17th in Afghanistan and China, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 1.1 months in Shenzhen. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 8609th and 1094th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Kabul vs Shenzhen infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs Shenzhen

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

	Kabul	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.45	$3.52
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$28.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$4.93
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$1.26
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$3.12
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.5
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$619
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$350
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$1122
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$637
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$40.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$61.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$12.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	3.84%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$12494
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$5776
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.42
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$21
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$4.58
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.76
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$1.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$1.82
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$12.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$3.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$1.85
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1.36
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$1.24
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$1.01
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$1.08
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$12.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$5.34
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$6.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$1.65
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$1.96
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$43.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$7.06
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$34
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$9.65
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$47.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$73.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$444
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$22402

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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2414
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2718
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$662
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$662
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1746
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$518
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$608
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$829
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$758
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$589
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$941
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$827
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$766
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$777
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$794
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$816
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$892
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$579
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$451
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$589
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$669
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$454
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$809
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$765
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$766
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$780
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$773
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$897
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$750
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$726
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$790
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$697
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$693
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$707
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$677
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$901
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$546
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$634