Kabul vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$195	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$516
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	30	43
😀 Quality of life	33	61
🏙️ Population	4.27M	1.4M

The cost of living in Kabul is 47% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 8842nd and 6373rd ($458 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in Afghanistan and Mongolia, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 8609th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Kabul vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Kabul	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.45	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$6621

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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600