Riyadh vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Riyadh	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1627	$420
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3576	$1031
🏠 One person rent	$931	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$1463	$236
🍽️ Food expenses	$375	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$184	$39.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2496	$544
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	21 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	73	5
😀 Quality of life	80	42
🏙️ Population	7.01M	115K

The cost of living in Riyadh is 288% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 3418th and 8940th ($1627 vs $420) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Saudi Arabia and Bhutan, respectively. Check Saudi Arabia vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Riyadh compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Riyadh ranked 1st best city to live in Saudi Arabia vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 759th and 7547th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Riyadh vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Riyadh vs Thimphu

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

	Riyadh	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.98	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.8	$17.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.06	$4.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.86	$2.28
☕ Cappuccino	$4.24	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.78	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1007	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$738	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1807	$255
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1160	$171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.4	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$99.8	$26.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$74.1	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.19%	10.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2939	$600
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2197	$947
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.07	$1.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.5	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.5	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.62	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.28	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.88	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.6	$4.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$4.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$4.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$0.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.58
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$1.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.3	$5.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.75	$0.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.34	$3.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.73	$1.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.67	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.36	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.22	$0.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$101	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16	$3.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.9	$27.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.99	$3.19
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.5	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$43.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$451	$235
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9818	$653

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$967
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$862
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$908
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1008
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$930
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$873
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1201
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1230
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1008
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1849
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1770
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1454
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$825
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$726
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$730
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$453
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$719
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$549
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$889
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$542
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$918
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$477
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$521
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$669
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1182
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$503
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$483
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$583
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$571
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1162
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$553
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$681
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$903
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$530
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$463

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