Nairobi vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Nairobi	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$760	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2089	$3629
🏠 One person rent	$262	$944
🏘️ Family rent	$619	$1530
🍽️ Food expenses	$281	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$399	$2731
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	68	72
😀 Quality of life	59	78
🏙️ Population	5.55M	7.01M

The cost of living in Nairobi is 54% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 6622nd and 2911th ($760 vs $1637) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check Kenya vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Nairobi compared to 1.7 months in Riyadh. Nairobi ranked 1st best city to live in Kenya vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 5369th and 733rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Nairobi vs Riyadh infographic

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Prices in Nairobi vs Riyadh

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

	Nairobi	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.45	$9.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.6	$53.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.64	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.28	$4.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.73	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$395	$1001
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$156	$748
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1080	$2174
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$418	$1140
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$20	$69.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$31.1	$107
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.8	$75.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.8%	5.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1743	$2485
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$998	$1703
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.77	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.56	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.56	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.63	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$8.14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.33	$9.75
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.7
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.86
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.52	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.45	$2.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$8.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.13	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.08	$7.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.6	$2.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.72	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.23	$2.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.14	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42	$102
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.17	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.9	$52.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.79	$7.23
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.3	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.2	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$187	$404
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7984	$10598

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 Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529