Kathmandu vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kathmandu	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$419	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1077	$3111
🏠 One person rent	$131	$519
🏘️ Family rent	$240	$1664
🍽️ Food expenses	$181	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$62.2	$29.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$238	$718
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	2 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	28	7
😀 Quality of life	46	53
🏙️ Population	846K	77.6K

The cost of living in Kathmandu is 55% less expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 8918th and 5827th ($419 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Nepal and Thailand, respectively. Check Nepal vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Kathmandu compared to 0.8 months in Phuket. Kathmandu ranked 1st best city to live in Nepal vs Phuket ranked 7th in Thailand, while ranked 6495th and 6063rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Kathmandu vs Phuket infographic

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Prices in Kathmandu vs Phuket

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

	Kathmandu	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.44	$5.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.8	$36
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.47	$7.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.57	$2.68
☕ Cappuccino	$1.81	$2.39
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.48	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$162	$504
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$84.7	$403
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$296	$1891
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$173	$1436
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.6	$79.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$32.8	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.58	$16.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.88%	6.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2191	$4059
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1059	$2821
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$1.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.9	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.8	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.82	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.55	$1.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.9	$1.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.62	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.84	$20.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.13	$3.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.67	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$3.05
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.33
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.76	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.51	$1.44
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.67	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.17	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.76	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.27	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.87	$4.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.24	$3.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.53	$2.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.92	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$1.4
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.5	$56.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.22	$8.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$28.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.77	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.8	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$53.2	$98.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$85.2	$723
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3409	$13013

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$341
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$294
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$321
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$292
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$391
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$300
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$316
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$292
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$317
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$300
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$312
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$299
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$297
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$308
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$309
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$900
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$329
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$459
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$308
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$296
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$422
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$314
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$307
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$296
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$366
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$300
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$299
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$384
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$375
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$304
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$292
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$370
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$280
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$315
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$361

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$792
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$782
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$563
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$763
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$560
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$570
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$705
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$730
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$777
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$490
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$620
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$619
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$461
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$695
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$628
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$481
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$470
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$576
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$656
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$752
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$781
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$670
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$645
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$755
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$677
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$743
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810