Nairobi vs Seattle - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Nairobi	Seattle
🚶 Cost of living one person	$760	$3015
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2089	$7449
🏠 One person rent	$262	$1896
🏘️ Family rent	$619	$3549
🍽️ Food expenses	$281	$746
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$160
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$399	$6742
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	68	80
😀 Quality of life	59	91
🏙️ Population	5.55M	737K

The cost of living in Nairobi is 75% less expensive than in Seattle. Cities ranked 6622nd and 158th ($760 vs $3015) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 140th in Kenya and the United States, respectively. Check Kenya vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Nairobi compared to 2.2 months in Seattle. Nairobi ranked 1st best city to live in Kenya vs Seattle ranked 15th in the United States, while ranked 5369th and 98th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Nairobi vs Seattle infographic

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Prices in Nairobi vs Seattle

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

	Nairobi	Seattle
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.45	$21.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.6	$90.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.64	$13.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$7.98
☕ Cappuccino	$2.28	$5.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.73	$2.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$395	$2086
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$156	$1567
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1080	$3947
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$418	$3067
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$20	$157
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$31.1	$237
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.8	$68.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.8%	6.44%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1743	$6966
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$998	$5351
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.77	$2.73
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31	$96.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$18
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.56	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.56	$4.03
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$4.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.63	$4.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$20.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.33	$14.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$20.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$5.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$2.38
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$5.37
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$5.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$3.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.52	$1.56
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.45	$2.91
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$17.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.13	$3.15
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.08	$12
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.6	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.72	$5.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.23	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.14	$2.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42	$65.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.17	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.9	$183
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.79	$25.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.3	$68.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.2	$101
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$187	$2185
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7984	$29407

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 Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2826
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3273
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2882
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2624
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2642
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2810
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$2973
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2595
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3239
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2718
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2741
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2625
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2759
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2785
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2606
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2623
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2726
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2462
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2784
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2642
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2532
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2579
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2637
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2338
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2589
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2517
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2604
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2644
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2604
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2449
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2598
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2460
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2571
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2406
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2692
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2751
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2542
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2527
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2523
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2093