Riyadh vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Riyadh	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1637	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3629	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$944	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$1530	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$375	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$183	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2731	$550
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	72	5
😀 Quality of life	78	34
🏙️ Population	7.01M	115K

The cost of living in Riyadh is 288% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 2911th and 8915th ($1637 vs $422) 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 1.7 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 733rd 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 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	$9.31	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.6	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.02	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.88	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$4.16	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.76	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1001	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$748	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2174	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1140	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.4	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$107	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.4	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.42%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2485	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1703	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.07	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.2	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.4	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.61	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.71	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.28	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.14	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.75	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.14	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.71	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.72	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.19	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.8	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.03	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.23	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.22	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$102	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.2	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.23	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.2	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$404	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10598	$666

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529

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