Cost of living comparison

compared to

Ethiopia vs. Nairobi Cost of Living Summary

Ethiopia is 91.7% more expensive than Nairobi.

Restaurants: pay 17.4% more in Ethiopia
Groceries: pay 47.8% more in Ethiopia
Transportation: pay 33.1% less in Ethiopia
Housing: pay 3.5 times more in Ethiopia
Childcare: pay 3.0 times more in Ethiopia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 7.7% more in Ethiopia
Clothing: pay 2.5 times more in Ethiopia

The cost of housing, childcare, clothing, groceries, restaurants, and entertainment and sports in Ethiopia are more expensive than in Nairobi. Notably, housing, childcare, and clothing are significantly more expensive in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia vs. Nairobi Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Ethiopia instead of Nairobi, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 17.4% more for restaurants

	Nairobi	Ethiopia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.85 KES498.16	$6.00 ETB764.91	+55.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.17 KES797.06	$6.24 ETB794.90	+1.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.66 KES85.67	$0.78 ETB100.08	+18.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.53 KES68.84	$0.50 ETB64.02	-5.7%
Average			+17.4%

Nairobi vs. Ethiopia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 47.8% more for groceries

	Nairobi	Ethiopia
Bread 1 loaf	$0.56 KES72.15	$1.20 ETB153.18	+115.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.59 KES722.65	$4.85 ETB618.74	-13.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.35 KES433.29	$6.08 ETB774.93	+81.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.70 KES220.13	$2.65 ETB337.73	+55.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.71 KES350.29	$5.65 ETB719.80	+108.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.26 KES163.37	$3.30 ETB420.87	+161.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.50 KES64.59	$0.51 ETB64.55	+1.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.87 KES112.96	$1.08 ETB137.46	+23.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.46 KES59.09	$0.39 ETB49.28	-15.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.48 KES62.38	$0.31 ETB39.68	-35.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.56 KES71.92	$0.79 ETB101.25	+42.8%
Average			+47.8%

Nairobi vs. Ethiopia - Cost of groceries

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pay 33.1% less for transportation

	Nairobi	Ethiopia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.17 KES798.23	$4.88 ETB622.09	-21.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.83 KES3,985.30	$10.00 ETB1,274.84	-67.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$19,266.80 KES2,490,811.99	$25,000.00 ETB3,187,108.02	+29.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$13.87 KES1,793.38	$3.67 ETB467.23	-73.6%
Average			-33.1%

Nairobi vs. Ethiopia - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.5 times more for housing

	Nairobi	Ethiopia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.39 KES5,092.69	$171.17 ETB21,821.07	+334.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$428.53 KES55,400.11	$645.10 ETB82,240.14	+50.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$166.44 KES21,516.78	$422.74 ETB53,893.01	+154.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$22.39 KES2,894.90	$124.84 ETB15,914.92	+457.5%
Average			+249.1%

Nairobi vs. Ethiopia - Cost of housing

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pay 3.0 times more for childcare

	Nairobi	Ethiopia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$166.67 KES21,547.71	$81.47 ETB10,386.56	-51.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,008.06 KES1,035,281.58	$43,916.67 ETB5,598,686.43	+448.4%
Average			+198.6%

Nairobi vs. Ethiopia - Cost of childcare

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pay 7.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Nairobi	Ethiopia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.31 KES298.90	$1.00 ETB127.48	-56.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.24 KES289.70	$1.15 ETB146.57	-48.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.08 KES398.53	$4.00 ETB509.94	+29.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.12 KES5,703.45	$90.59 ETB11,549.44	+105.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.17 KES797.06	$6.70 ETB854.14	+8.7%
Average			+7.7%

Nairobi vs. Ethiopia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.5 times more for clothing

	Nairobi	Ethiopia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$16.84 KES2,177.44	$48.33 ETB6,161.74	+187.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$22.95 KES2,966.83	$75.17 ETB9,582.57	+227.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$61.84 KES7,994.32	$108.84 ETB13,875.74	+76.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$52.50 KES6,787.42	$119.32 ETB15,211.65	+127.3%
Average			+154.4%

Nairobi vs. Ethiopia - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: January 2025

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