Male vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Male	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1320	$420
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2817	$1031
🏠 One person rent	$818	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$1403	$236
🍽️ Food expenses	$368	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$43.1	$39.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$988	$544
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	7	5
😀 Quality of life	66	42
🏙️ Population	133K	115K

The cost of living in Male is 215% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 4439th and 8940th ($1320 vs $420) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 2nd in Maldives and Bhutan, respectively. Check Maldives vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Male compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Male ranked 1st best city to live in Maldives vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 5057th and 7547th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Male vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Male vs Thimphu

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

	Male	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.55	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.4	$17.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.82	$4.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.77	$2.28
☕ Cappuccino	$3.29	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.45	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$870	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$609	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1575	$255
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1116	$171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$26.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$81.2	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14%	10.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2585	$600
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1897	$947
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.65	$1.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.1	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.5	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.78	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.08	$4.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.15	$4.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.98	$4.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.83	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.35	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$0.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$0.58
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.97	$1.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.87	$5.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.96	$0.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13	$3.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.39	$1.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.83	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.18	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.81	$0.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$80.1	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.82	$3.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$23.2	$27.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.39	$3.19
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.5	$43.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$166	$235
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3575	$653

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1445
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$344
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$308
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$279
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$253
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$270
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$300
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$382
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$351
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$590
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$646
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$356
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$626
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$512
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$469
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$420
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$479
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$286
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$347
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$321
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$310
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$326
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$440
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$317
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$535
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$347
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$286
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$275
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$346
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$295
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$400
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$530
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$283
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$524
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$300
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$355
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$340
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$327

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$450
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$297
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$308
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$311
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$918
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$316
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$298
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$348
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$321
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$338
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$297
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$981
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$284
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$287
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$354
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$297
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$282
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$281
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$321
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$293
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$294
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$352
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$332
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$427
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$464
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$362
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$328
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$300
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$286
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$320
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$289
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$286
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$289