Rawalpindi vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Rawalpindi	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$401	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1010	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$150	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$317	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$42.5	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$170	$550
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	68	5
😀 Quality of life	46	34
🏙️ Population	2.1M	115K

The cost of living in Rawalpindi is 5% less expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 8953rd and 8915th ($401 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th 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 4th best city to live in Pakistan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 6500th and 7592nd 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	$1.79	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$13.9	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.78	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.43	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$1.64	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.32	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$113	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$58	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$169	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.6	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97.1	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.97%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$747	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$421	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.9	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.5	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.95	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.55	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.17	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.42	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.31	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.32	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.37	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.5	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.25	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.5	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$25	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.96	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.95	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.92	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.27	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.78	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.43	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.1	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.6	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.2	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.1	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$10.5	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$84.1	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$37.8	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1075	$666

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	$442
40 km or 25 mi	Wah	$382
82 km or 51 mi	Mirpur	$354
116 km or 72 mi	Mardan	$366
120 km or 75 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
135 km or 84 mi	Baramulla	$273
146 km or 90 mi	Mingora	$364
148 km or 92 mi	Gujrat	$373
151 km or 94 mi	Kohat	$379
152 km or 94 mi	Peshawar	$346
170 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$354
173 km or 107 mi	Sargodha	$458
180 km or 112 mi	Hafizabad	$380
183 km or 114 mi	Sialkot	$281
192 km or 119 mi	Jammu	$287
192 km or 119 mi	Gujranwala	$308
210 km or 130 mi	Chiniot	$389
211 km or 131 mi	Kamoke	$321
228 km or 142 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
243 km or 151 mi	Faisalabad	$306
257 km or 160 mi	Lahore	$411
258 km or 160 mi	Jalalabad	$303
269 km or 167 mi	Jhang	$292
275 km or 171 mi	Gojra	$342
276 km or 172 mi	Sahiwal	$305
277 km or 172 mi	Amritsar	$383
283 km or 176 mi	Pathankot	$355
294 km or 183 mi	Khost	$366
312 km or 194 mi	Okara	$300
346 km or 215 mi	Jalandhar	$358
355 km or 221 mi	Gardez	$386
374 km or 232 mi	Kabul	$474
382 km or 238 mi	Khanewal	$361
385 km or 239 mi	Burewala	$356
397 km or 247 mi	Ludhiana	$441
409 km or 254 mi	Multan	$392
430 km or 267 mi	Ghazni	$389
457 km or 284 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
474 km or 294 mi	Chandigarh	$369
475 km or 295 mi	Shimla	$272

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$459
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$312
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$296
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$296
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$900
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$317
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$309
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$342
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$323
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$335
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$307
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$963
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$300
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$280
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$408
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$308
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$264
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$292
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$305
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$292
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$304
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$295
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$297
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$419
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$341
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$430
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$367
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$309
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$294
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$281
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$321
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$289
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$294
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$316
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$292
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$299
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$300