Phuket vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Phuket	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1014	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2500	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$544	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$932	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$335	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$32.8	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$944	$516
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	7	43
😀 Quality of life	57	61
🏙️ Population	77.6K	1.4M

The cost of living in Phuket is 17% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 5469th and 6373rd ($1014 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Thailand and Mongolia, respectively. Check Thailand vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.9 months in Phuket compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Phuket ranked 5th best city to live in Thailand vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 6129th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Phuket vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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Prices in Phuket vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Phuket	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.11	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$41.4	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.29	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.15	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$3.04	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.74	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$595	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$419	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1073	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$738	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.6	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.7	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.28%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4256	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2916	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.45	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.4	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.1	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.31	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.11	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.67	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.23	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.83	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.97	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.52	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$21.4	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.83	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.3	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.35	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.43	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.34	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.44	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.8	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.54	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.6	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$65.3	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$612	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14328	$6621

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	$773
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$854
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$807
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$593
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$810
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$756
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$592
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$592
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$741
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$570
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$765
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$509
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$423
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$754
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$701
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$449
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$552
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$386
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$657
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$466
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$460
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$553
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$724
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$787
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$812
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$704
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$681
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$763
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$708
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$731
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$779
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$866

Cities near Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600