Cost of Living in Abu Dhabi

Summary of cost of living in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates:

Restaurants
Edit Range
Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant 40.00 AED 15.00-100.00
Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course 280.00 AED 150.00-500.00
McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) 35.00 AED 30.00-45.00
Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) 48.00 AED 30.00-70.00
Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) 44.50 AED 35.00-65.00
Cappuccino (regular) 21.37 AED 10.00-45.00
Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle) 4.68 AED 3.00-10.00
Water (12 oz small bottle) 1.64 AED 1.00-3.50
Markets
Edit
Milk (regular), (1 gallon) 26.55 AED 16.85-47.32
Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) 4.50 AED 2.72-12.70
Rice (white), (1 lb) 2.85 AED 1.81-5.44
Eggs (regular) (12) 10.50 AED 6.00-16.80
Local Cheese (1 lb) 15.03 AED 6.80-36.29
Chicken Fillets (1 lb) 11.50 AED 6.35-20.41
Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) 18.80 AED 11.34-29.48
Apples (1 lb) 3.85 AED 1.81-5.44
Banana (1 lb) 3.00 AED 2.72-4.08
Oranges (1 lb) 3.28 AED 1.36-6.35
Tomato (1 lb) 2.50 AED 1.36-3.63
Potato (1 lb) 1.86 AED 0.91-4.00
Onion (1 lb) 1.78 AED 0.91-3.18
Lettuce (1 head) 5.05 AED 2.00-10.00
Water (1.5 liter bottle) 2.04 AED 1.50-3.00
Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) 50.00 AED 30.00-100.00
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) 8.42 AED 5.00-15.00
Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) 10.07 AED 5.00-20.00
Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) 22.00 AED 20.00-25.00
Transportation
Edit
One-way Ticket (Local Transport) 2.00 AED 2.00-4.00
Monthly Pass (Regular Price) 80.00 AED 80.00-150.00
Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) 12.00 AED 5.00-12.00
Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) 3.22 AED 2.93-5.63
Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) 30.00 AED 20.00-50.00
Gasoline (1 gallon) 11.53 AED 10.41-17.22
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) 156,112.00 AED 120,000.00-166,827.00
Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) 80,854.17 AED 80,000.00-85,000.00
Utilities (Monthly)
Edit
Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment 701.78 AED 400.00-1,062.50
Mobile Phone Monthly Plan with Calls and 10GB+ Data 217.91 AED 100.00-400.00
Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) 419.72 AED 350.00-550.00
Sports And Leisure
Edit
Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult 308.76 AED 99.00-600.00
Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) 137.94 AED 80.00-215.00
Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat 50.00 AED 40.00-60.00
Childcare
Edit
Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child 2,667.58 AED 1,250.00-5,000.00
International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child 41,856.38 AED 25,000.00-75,000.00
Clothing And Shoes
Edit
1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) 294.77 AED 85.00-450.00
1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) 243.55 AED 120.00-400.00
1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) 401.34 AED 250.00-550.00
1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes 435.60 AED 200.00-600.00
Rent Per Month
Edit
Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre 6,024.86 AED 4,000.00-8,500.00
Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre 4,105.15 AED 3,000.00-6,500.00
Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre 13,457.85 AED 8,300.00-21,000.00
Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre 9,326.55 AED 6,000.00-15,000.00
Buy Apartment Price
Edit
Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre 1,735.11 AED 1,402.82-2,456.06
Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre 1,561.69 AED 1,244.89-2,136.75
Salaries And Financing
Edit
Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) 13,432.31 AED
Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate 5.75 4.00-7.39

Prices in Abu Dhabi

This city had 1487 entries in the past 12 months by 202 different contributors.
Last update: March 2024
Sources and References
Distribution of Expenses Using Our Statistical Model:
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14 Comments so far
Bipin Gogoi on Jan 03, 2024:
I got an offer as a Karate Instructor, I plan to join from 15th of January can you please guide me regarding the amount of salary I shall be expecting?
Ricardo on Nov 10, 2023:
Hi, I'm actually evaluating a job offer in Abu Dhabi. Please, can you suggest me any website to check appartments availability and prices for rent? I´m looking for a very small appartment / studio in Citi Centre. Thanks in advance.
Anonymous on May 11, 2023:
what should be the minimum salary for a person with a wife and 3 kids school going
James Dean on Apr 03, 2023:
I have lived in Abu Dhabi for a while now and your 'estimates' look way off to me. Your monthly figure is close to what my family of four spend ONLY on groceries, utilities, internet/phone and gasoline. We are very careful users of utilities ( switch lights,AC, etc off) and shop cautiously. Anything like clothes, club membership, eating out,cinema, entertainment and so on would easily add another 4500+ to that. Also did you factor in taxes such as municipality charges, VAT,tourist tax, service charges and so on?
Anonymous on Sep 18, 2022:
If i have 3000AED per month and accommodation is provided by company
So can i survive with this salary?
Anonymous on Sep 13, 2022:
Abu Dhabi expensive more than Bangkok Thailand
actually Bangkok 3000usd per mont enough .
So I ma RF Engineer more experience 20year I am focus 5000 usd at there
Thank
Leigh on Oct 11, 2021:
I've got an offer of 500k aed per year for a family of 3. Any good?
Anonymous on Aug 04, 2021:
Hello,

I got an offer costing 15,000 Emarati Dirham . Can i survive with this salary me and my wife & one school going kid.
John on Jan 10, 2021:
I wonder while Dubai is about 8% more expensive than Athens and in Athens you need 850 euros to live in Dubai you need about 2500 euros. I estimate that they have entered the market of Dubai either businessmen or banks and have created a bubble market. The same has been done in Bulgaria where the cost of living is about 750 euros with the cost of buying an apartment in the center is 1500-2000 euros the same Serbia that costs is about 450 euros. with the cost of buying an apartment 2500-3000 euros.
These prices are unbelievable and you owe it to the Germans to come in and create a bubble in real estate prices.
If you want send me where you owe the price difference. I am not referring to very expensive areas of Dubai but to popular neighborhoods within the city center.
Anna on Dec 25, 2020:
Hey,
I have lived in abu dhabi for a long time and I feel I can help anyone with making a few pointers
A good studio in abu dhabi is around 3.5k monthly
A good one bedroom is around 4.5k monthly
2 bedroom 7.5k monthly
3 bedroom 9k monthly
For food and groceries I would expect around 1k monthly if you enjoy cooking at home per person
But if you eat out a lot expect more of 1.8/2k monthly per person
If you have kids it really does vary, it can be 2k a month and can go up to 6k depending on the school, some really good schools are 2k a month so I would not stress over very expensive education.
For leisure, if you are not a big spender 600AED a month is good but if you like entertainment and a lot of things then again expect 1.5k or more a month.
For reference a movie ticket is 40AED per person
The biggest controversy here is transpor, public transport is cheap but not good around 60AED, taxis can get pretty expensive averaging 15AED per ride. Buying a car is costly, a brand new bmw youre looking at 200k or a new toyota is 100k but if you decide on a cheaper option and get monthly payments then it is 100% doable as UAE weather definitely needs a car. For example I bought a brand new 2020 CIVIC LX sport for 70k, 20% downpayment of 14k and a monthly 1.1k for 36 months. Another example, a 2016 lancer with low mileage would be around 22k.
If you have any other questions Id love to help with no cost just email me on srh-01@hotmail .com
Jolly cargo on May 20, 2020:
Hello
I have a job but my salary is 3000 and I pay my room 850 and about my foods and my utilities and taxi I sent also my family in Philippine also my country is locked down I don’t have enough money...
Anonymous on Apr 18, 2020:
Sorry, my bad I did not read your offer carefully. If it includes accommodation then you can save AED 1000 per month and convert it to your local currency as a saving per month.
Anonymous on Apr 18, 2020:
I doubt that you can save much in AED 3000 per month because a single bed will cost you AED 900-1000 per month (on room sharing basis). You need additional AED 1200 per month for food, AED 150 for mobile & Internet, and on weekends you will go out to Malls or Shopping Centers and you will end up spending AED 150-200 every weekend. If you can curtail any of these expenses then you can save something but it will totally depend on you, as to how you can live on a very tight budget.
Anonymous on Mar 01, 2020:
I got an offer of 3000AED in Abu Dhabi with accommodation & travel free of cost in company's side. Fr food,internet,phone call I want to balance in this 3000 AED... Although I wanna save a huge amount & wanna send to my family(dad,mom,wife & a kid(4yrs old))... those all possible with this salary package?? Pls anyone reply soon.!!