Reykjavik vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Reykjavik	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3268	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6787	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$2025	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$3029	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$894	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$101	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4361	$516
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	52	43
😀 Quality of life	91	61
🏙️ Population	140K	1.4M

The cost of living in Reykjavik is 276% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 88th and 6373rd ($3268 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Iceland and Mongolia, respectively. Check Iceland vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Reykjavik compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Reykjavik ranked 1st best city to live in Iceland vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 191st and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Reykjavik vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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

Prices in Reykjavik vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Reykjavik	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$27.9	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$79.5	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$20.5	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$13	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$6.12	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.33	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2075	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1851	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3279	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2774	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$45.2	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$70.4	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$84	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.56%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8015	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6578	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$5.36	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$88.4	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$28.3	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.55	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.04	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.43	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.58	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.1	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$25	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$41.5	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.59	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.35	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.57	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.27	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.04	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$25.5	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.79	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.6	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.9	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.86	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.2	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.63	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$88.2	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$92.8	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$46	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$144	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$194	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$352	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$30378	$6621

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Reykjavik

Distance	City	Cost of living
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	Kopavogur	$3175
9.8 km or 6.1 mi	Hafnarfjorur	$3148
38 km or 24 mi	Keflavik	$2596
247 km or 153 mi	Akureyri	$2990
795 km or 494 mi	Torshavn	$2077
1204 km or 748 mi	Inverness	$2021
1230 km or 764 mi	Elgin	$1507
1300 km or 808 mi	Derry	$1551
1309 km or 813 mi	Greenock	$1575
1321 km or 821 mi	Aberdeen	$1769
1325 km or 823 mi	Perth	$1641
1328 km or 825 mi	Stirling	$1711
1331 km or 827 mi	Paisley	$1837
1333 km or 828 mi	Alloa	$1762
1337 km or 831 mi	Glasgow	$2058
1339 km or 832 mi	Dundee	$1480
1340 km or 833 mi	Omagh	$1703
1341 km or 833 mi	Cumbernauld	$1619
1342 km or 834 mi	Irvine	$1630
1348 km or 838 mi	East Kilbride	$1840
1349 km or 838 mi	Kilmarnock	$1527
1351 km or 839 mi	Dunfermline	$1728
1353 km or 841 mi	Hamilton	$1797
1357 km or 843 mi	Ayr	$1522
1360 km or 845 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1768
1365 km or 848 mi	Livingston	$1775
1372 km or 852 mi	Edinburgh	$2310
1382 km or 859 mi	Newtownabbey	$1808
1387 km or 862 mi	Belfast	$1884
1390 km or 864 mi	Bangor	$1484
1391 km or 864 mi	Lisburn	$1879
1401 km or 871 mi	Alesund	$1797
1413 km or 878 mi	Galway	$2768
1425 km or 886 mi	Dundalk	$1955
1431 km or 889 mi	Dumfries	$1485
1433 km or 891 mi	Nuuk	$2217
1441 km or 895 mi	Molde	$1986
1454 km or 903 mi	Kristiansund	$1887
1455 km or 904 mi	Drogheda	$2902
1455 km or 904 mi	Bergen	$2242

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