Kabul vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Kabul	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$599	$387
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1271	$1009
🏠 One person rent	$285	$122
🏘️ Family rent	$403	$227
🍽️ Food expenses	$182	$177
🚐 Transport expenses	$96.7	$32.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$188	$570
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	29	5
😀 Quality of life	13	50
🏙️ Population	4.27M	115K

The cost of living in Kabul is 55% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 7801st and 9013th ($599 vs $387) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Afghanistan and Bhutan, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Kabul compared to 1.5 months in Thimphu. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 9123rd and 6232nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kabul vs Thimphu infographic

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

Prices in Kabul vs Thimphu

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

	Kabul	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.69	$2.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$8.83	$16.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.92	$3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.75	$6.45
☕ Cappuccino	$1.82	$1.54
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.38	$0.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$168	$119
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$123	$65.3
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$381	$222
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$182	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.5	$13.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.3	$21.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$99.3	$32.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	21.36%	9.56%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$451	$625
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$274	$869
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.36	$1.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$19.2	$4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.29	$15.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.99	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.88	$0.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.32	$0.97
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.74
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$2.25
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.73	$3.43
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.07	$3.93
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.69	$4.33
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.74	$2.39
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$0.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.36	$0.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.32	$0.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$1.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10	$3.55
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.62	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.56	$3.92
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.24	$1.64
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.81	$3.7
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.09	$1.27
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.47	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$13.3	$49.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.34	$3.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13.1	$29.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.99	$3.33
👖 Brand Jeans	$13.6	$33.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$46.1	$32.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$23.8	$251
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1452	$691

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	$469
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$358
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$476
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$441
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$457
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$338
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$374
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$467
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$372
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$354
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$323
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$439
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$659
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$376
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$450
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$456
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$655
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$672
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$328
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$341
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$521
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$373
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$277
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$344
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$319
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$330
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$273
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$388
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$285
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$371
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$312
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$280
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$358
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$335
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$376
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$308
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$487

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$455
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$314
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$298
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$293
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$930
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$331
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$312
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$370
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$339
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$359
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$311
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$997
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$303
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$282
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$390
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$311
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$256
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$297
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$268
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$279
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$296
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$321
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$309
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$271
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$290
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$443
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$428
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$380
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$301
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$294
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$311
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$294
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$335
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$290
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$307
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$356
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$288
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$273
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$284