Phuket vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Phuket	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1010	$412
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2467	$998
🏠 One person rent	$555	$158
🏘️ Family rent	$956	$234
🍽️ Food expenses	$325	$164
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.5	$36.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$512	$351
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	8	5
😀 Quality of life	55	43
🏙️ Population	77.6K	115K

The cost of living in Phuket is 146% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 5497th and 8941st ($1010 vs $412) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Thailand and Bhutan, respectively. Check Thailand vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Phuket compared to 0.9 months in Thimphu. Phuket ranked 9th best city to live in Thailand vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6330th and 7454th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/phuket/thimphu.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Phuket vs Thimphu infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/phuket/thimphu" target="_blank">Phuket vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Phuket vs Thimphu

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

	Phuket	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.76	$2.59
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.6	$14.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.13	$3.87
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.46	$2.12
☕ Cappuccino	$2.93	$1.7
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.73	$0.47
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$650	$166
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$429	$107
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1157	$234
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$761	$172
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.2	$19.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$96.7	$29.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$19	$19.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.61%	10.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3728	$657
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2603	$762
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.53	$1.4
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$11.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.6	$17.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.39	$0.71
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.74	$0.77
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.51	$0.66
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$0.66
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.19	$1.72
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.8	$4.75
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$4.07
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$3.93
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.02	$2.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.43
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$0.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$0.49
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$0.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.36	$0.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.1	$5.41
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.87	$0.58
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.4	$3.41
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.35	$1.44
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.44	$3.27
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.33	$1.13
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.44	$0.57
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.5	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.75	$2.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.2	$26.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.56	$2.96
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.9	$29.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.7	$48.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$565	$263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13979	$600

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$437
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$282
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$307
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$320
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$960
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$303
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$287
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$325
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$303
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$321
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$288
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$1034
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$270
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$297
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$336
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$289
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$278
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$264
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$245
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$289
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$327
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$287
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$288
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$357
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$329
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$424
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$336
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$478
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$342
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$263
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$288
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$317
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$326
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$285
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$293
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$272
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$268
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$274