Cost of living comparison

Saudi Arabia

compared to

Qatar

Qatar vs. Saudi Arabia Cost of Living Summary

Qatar is 20.7% more expensive than Saudi Arabia overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.5% more in Qatar
Groceries: pay 5.6% less in Qatar
Transportation: pay 25.7% less in Qatar
Housing: pay 75.7% more in Qatar
Childcare: pay 33.9% more in Qatar
Entertainment and Sports: pay 48.7% more in Qatar
Clothing: pay 2.7% less in Qatar

The cost of housing, entertainment and sports, childcare, and restaurants in Qatar are more expensive than in Saudi Arabia. Expenses including transportation, groceries, and clothing are lower in Qatar. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Qatar.

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Qatar vs. Saudi Arabia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Qatar instead of Saudi Arabia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.5% more for restaurants

	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.43 SAR24.15	$6.49 QAR23.78	+0.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.60 SAR28.53	$7.14 QAR26.12	-6.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.77 SAR2.90	$0.84 QAR3.07	+8.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.25 SAR0.94	$0.35 QAR1.29	+40.8%
Average			+2.5%

Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar - Cost of restaurants

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pay 5.6% less for groceries

	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
Bread 1 loaf	$0.98 SAR3.69	$1.38 QAR5.06	+40.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.80 SAR14.25	$3.99 QAR14.62	+5.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.70 SAR25.16	$7.97 QAR29.19	+19.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.67 SAR10.01	$3.27 QAR11.97	+22.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.42 SAR12.84	$3.56 QAR13.02	+3.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.98 SAR3.66	$0.93 QAR3.41	-4.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.78 SAR2.93	$0.76 QAR2.77	-3.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.80 SAR2.99	$0.68 QAR2.47	-15.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.75 SAR2.81	$0.54 QAR1.99	-27.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.62 SAR2.32	$0.39 QAR1.44	-36.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.60 SAR2.27	$0.39 QAR1.43	-35.4%
Average			-5.6%

Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar - Cost of groceries

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pay 25.7% less for transportation

	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.35 SAR8.83	$2.14 QAR7.82	-9.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$35.96 SAR134.94	$23.33 QAR85.39	-35.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$44,549.24 SAR167K	$27,978.05 QAR102K	-37.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$20.52 SAR77.00	$17.58 QAR64.36	-14.3%
Average			-25.7%

Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar - Cost of transportation

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pay 75.7% more for housing

	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$68.86 SAR258.41	$86.45 QAR316.45	+25.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$633.54 SAR2,377.57	$1,433.67 QAR5,248.28	+126.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$465.22 SAR1,745.88	$856.18 QAR3,134.22	+84.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$73.68 SAR276.52	$65.24 QAR238.83	-11.5%
Average			+75.7%

Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar - Cost of housing

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pay 33.9% more for childcare

	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$419.94 SAR1,575.96	$670.94 QAR2,456.14	+59.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,565.65 SAR32,145.50	$9,605.02 QAR35,161.31	+12.1%
Average			+33.9%

Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar - Cost of childcare

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pay 48.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.91 SAR7.18	$11.34 QAR41.52	+493.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.43 SAR12.86	$5.19 QAR19.01	+51.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.94 SAR26.04	$5.67 QAR20.76	-18.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$98.19 SAR368.47	$119.62 QAR437.91	+21.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$15.24 SAR57.19	$11.43 QAR41.86	-25.0%
Average			+48.7%

Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.7% less for clothing

	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$44.17 SAR165.75	$44.75 QAR163.81	+1.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$55.80 SAR209.42	$42.52 QAR155.66	-23.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$89.45 SAR335.69	$98.38 QAR360.14	+10.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$74.85 SAR280.89	$79.08 QAR289.48	+5.7%
Average			-2.7%

Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Qatar?

Quality of Life Comparison · 17 statistics

Make 2.1 times more money in Qatar

Size Comparison · See true size

Saudi Arabia is about 186 times bigger than Qatar.

Moving from Saudi Arabia to Qatar · UN DESA 2020

911 people born in Saudi Arabia live in Qatar.

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