Nairobi vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Nairobi	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$760	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2089	$3111
🏠 One person rent	$262	$519
🏘️ Family rent	$619	$1664
🍽️ Food expenses	$281	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$29.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$399	$718
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	68	7
😀 Quality of life	59	53
🏙️ Population	5.55M	77.6K

The cost of living in Nairobi is 19% less expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 6622nd and 5827th ($760 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Kenya and Thailand, respectively. Check Kenya vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Nairobi compared to 0.8 months in Phuket. Nairobi ranked 1st best city to live in Kenya vs Phuket ranked 7th in Thailand, while ranked 5369th and 6063rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Nairobi vs Phuket infographic

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Prices in Nairobi vs Phuket

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

	Nairobi	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.45	$5.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.6	$36
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.64	$7.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$2.68
☕ Cappuccino	$2.28	$2.39
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.73	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$395	$504
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$156	$403
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1080	$1891
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$418	$1436
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$20	$79.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$31.1	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.8	$16.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.8%	6.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1743	$4059
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$998	$2821
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.77	$1.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.56	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.56	$1.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.63	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$20.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.33	$3.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$3.05
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.33
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.44
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.52	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.45	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.13	$1.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.08	$4.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.6	$3.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.72	$2.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.23	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.14	$1.4
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42	$56.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.17	$8.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.9	$28.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.79	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.3	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.2	$98.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$187	$723
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7984	$13013

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$589
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$408
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$500
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$541
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$638
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$561
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$483
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$522
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$490
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$602
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$605
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$580
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$562
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$625
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$545
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$646
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$698
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$558
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$502
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$523
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$552
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$486
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$811
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$594
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$650
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$613
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$771
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$648
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$573
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$518
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$801
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$492
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$648
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$413
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$651
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$648
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$585
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$479
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$785

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