Rawalpindi vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Rawalpindi	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$416	$420
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$962	$1031
🏠 One person rent	$164	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$264	$236
🍽️ Food expenses	$160	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$42.8	$39.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$156	$544
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	68	5
😀 Quality of life	50	42
🏙️ Population	2.1M	115K

The cost of living in Rawalpindi is 0.9% less expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 8945th and 8940th ($416 vs $420) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in Pakistan and Bhutan, respectively. Check Pakistan vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Rawalpindi compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Rawalpindi ranked 2nd best city to live in Pakistan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6592nd and 7547th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Rawalpindi vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Rawalpindi vs Thimphu

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

	Rawalpindi	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.77	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$15	$17.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.24	$4.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$2.28
☕ Cappuccino	$1.79	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$138	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$63.9	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$249	$255
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$114	$171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$105	$26.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17.7	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	21.72%	10.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$960	$600
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$464	$947
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$1.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.74	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.67	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.53	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.16	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.21	$4.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.34	$4.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$4.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.66	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.95	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$0.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.36	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.51	$0.58
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.26	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.76	$1.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.8	$5.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.11	$0.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.96	$3.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.94	$1.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.24	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.77	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.42	$0.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$8.86	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.86	$3.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$11.4	$27.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.11	$3.19
👖 Brand Jeans	$12.8	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.2	$43.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$43.5	$235
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$764	$653

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Rawalpindi

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Islamabad	$443
40 km or 25 mi	Wah	$344
82 km or 51 mi	Mirpur	$277
116 km or 72 mi	Mardan	$354
120 km or 75 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
135 km or 84 mi	Baramulla	$265
146 km or 90 mi	Mingora	$351
148 km or 92 mi	Gujrat	$320
151 km or 94 mi	Kohat	$364
152 km or 94 mi	Peshawar	$334
170 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$340
173 km or 107 mi	Sargodha	$376
180 km or 112 mi	Hafizabad	$363
183 km or 114 mi	Sialkot	$311
192 km or 119 mi	Jammu	$284
192 km or 119 mi	Gujranwala	$302
210 km or 130 mi	Chiniot	$372
211 km or 131 mi	Kamoke	$316
228 km or 142 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
243 km or 151 mi	Faisalabad	$333
257 km or 160 mi	Lahore	$427
258 km or 160 mi	Jalalabad	$354
269 km or 167 mi	Jhang	$294
275 km or 171 mi	Gojra	$351
276 km or 172 mi	Sahiwal	$303
277 km or 172 mi	Amritsar	$380
283 km or 176 mi	Pathankot	$350
294 km or 183 mi	Khost	$393
312 km or 194 mi	Okara	$291
346 km or 215 mi	Jalandhar	$337
355 km or 221 mi	Gardez	$401
374 km or 232 mi	Kabul	$458
382 km or 238 mi	Khanewal	$362
385 km or 239 mi	Burewala	$347
397 km or 247 mi	Ludhiana	$421
409 km or 254 mi	Multan	$403
430 km or 267 mi	Ghazni	$396
457 km or 284 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
474 km or 294 mi	Chandigarh	$373
475 km or 295 mi	Shimla	$270

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$450
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$297
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$308
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$311
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$918
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$316
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$298
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$348
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$321
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$338
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$297
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$981
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$284
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$287
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$354
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$297
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$282
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$281
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$321
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$293
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$294
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$352
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$332
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$427
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$464
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$362
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$328
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$300
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$286
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$320
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$289
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$286
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$289