Cost of Living in Qatar

Cost of living depends on your lifestyle

Stay in a flashy place -
Pay for it or get your employer to do it

How much does it cost to live in Qatar?

When two expats in Qatar meet up, three subjects almost always come up on the table.
1. Challenges of driving in Qatar
2. Cost of living in Qatar
3. Where is the best place to eat

We have discussed driving in Qatar and where to eat in Qatar a couple of times. Let's talk about cost of living in Qatar.

It all depends on which part of the world you come from. And also what kind of salary that you draw. And what kind of lifestyle you lead.

Here's some basic guidelines:

Housing in Qatar (Estimated monthly rental including utilities)

Villa - A stand-alone house either occupying it's own land or in a common gated housing compound. Usually 2 levels of 3-5 rooms. Small to medium garden.
- US$3-8K
Apartment - An apartment in a building of 2-6 levels. Usually 1-3 rooms. May have common facilities such as security, a pool and gym.
- US$1-4K
Shared rooms - Occupying a room in a shared villa or apartment. Share a kitchen and common hall.
US$0.8-1.5K

As a general rule of thumb, you tend to see expats with family living in villas when housing is covered by employers, in apartments when they are individual or couples getting a housing allowance and single bachelor individuals sharing apartments or villa who pays out of their pocket.

Transportation choices in Qatar

Here's a rough guide to new car prices in Qatar.

Car - Honda Civic (@US$20K), Honda Accord (@US$28K), Honda CRV (@US$40K), Nissan Tida (@US$17K), Volvo XC60 (@US$50K), Audi Q5 (@US$65K)

You can deduct roughly 10% a year for used cars dependent on the brand and model. European and American brands depreciate the fastest with Japanese and Korean cars hold on to their value best.

Car rental is not advisable unless you are staying less than a year. In that case, estimate US$600 for a Honda Civic to US$1800 for a Audi Q5.

Buses: One can forget it. The bus service is almost non-existent as it serves only few roads and buses are far and few in-between. Waiting at bus-stops during Summer is simply not tolerable.

Train/Subway: Non-existent.

Taxi: Impossible to find one on the road. Found only in airports and major shopping malls. Expect to pay US$5 for a short trip to US$20 for a longer one. You can also book taxis on the phone but horror stories abound of bad experiences including no-show, delays, lost directions, overcharging and other bad incidences.

Private taxis: Most expats who do not drive depend on private 'taxis' arrangement. This is illegal but a common mode of transport which is much more reliable than taxi service. Expect to pay about US$5 to US$15 per trip. Some residents hire 'private taxi' on a long term on-call basis and this can cost US$800-1000 per month. The driver is not exclusively yours but you get immediate priority as the host owner.

There are also a few private chauffeured car hires when you can book private cars with a driver. The popular one is Fox Limousine and but there's probably another 100 smaller ones out there.

Uber is now available in Qatar and has risen fast in popularity due to it's reliability, friendly drivers and good quality cars. It can only go up in popularity despite being being more expensive than a taxi.

Eating out in Qatar

You can get a simple Chicken Bryani with a coke for US$4 at a simple roadside restaurant. The same meal will cost US$10 at a good Indian restaurant to US$20 at a hotel cafe. Use the same scale for quick takeaway food such as Sharwama or a Chinese noodle.

A 2-person complete meal in a restaurant will cost US$20-40 with a hotel being US$40-100. In my opinion, at this point in Qatar, even if you go to a fancy brand-name restaurant, the food and service just simply does not match up. I really see no point in spending top dollars on restaurant food in Qatar.

Groceries in Qatar

Grocery shopping in Qatar is estimated to be slightly more expensive than one's own home country for common goods like coffee, cooking oil, pasta, ice-cream, tooth-paste, shampoo, etc

Some supermarkets like Lulu and Careefour produces housebrands for common popular items and that may bring prices down to a level even cheaper than your own home country.

Exotic items like organic food, specialty goods and others are estimated to cost 20-100% more.

Petrol in Qatar

This is one area where Qatar shines above every other country in the world when it comes to cost of living. Octave 95 Petrol cost US$30c per liter or US$15 for a full tank for a regular saloon car.

Education in Qatar

Unless your native language is Arabic, you are unlikely to send your child to a local public school. This means sending your child to a private international school and this is likely to be an expensive affair ranging from US$20K a year for junior school to US$45K a year for tertiary education.

Obviously, this is an amount beyond most individuals and will require your employer pays for it. You may want to ensure this is covered in your employment contract especially if you have many children.

I have friends who realised belatedly that their employer does not fully cover education and they have no choice but to send family back to home country for education.

Healthcare in Qatar

Healthcare is next to free if you qualify for public healthcare insurance in Qatar. Anyone who has a residential ID in Qatar will qualify. You need to pay only a small token amount when you seek treatment at Hamad Hospital and it's subsidiaries.

Most employers will pay some form of private medical insurance that qualifies you to visit selected or all medical clinics and hospitals. Most private insurance will require that you co-pay a token or nothing when you seek treatment.

Make sure your employment covers insurance for your family too. Making a trip to a upmarket private hospital like the Al Ali will cost a bomb.

Airline ticket to and from Qatar

Qatar is not an attractive end destination airport and hence, has set itself up as a transit hub with Qatar Airways expanding quickly and serving many parts of the world. 

If you are flying direct from your home country to and from Qatar, one can generally estimate the flight to be 20-50% more than if you have an alternate airline on the same flight. 

Conversely, if you use Qatar as a transit and fly beyond Doha, you may find that with the additional leg, your ticket may cost the same or even cheaper than if your end destination is Qatar itself. So, if your lifestyle or your job allows you to plan your vacation easily, you may find this an attractive option to explore the world!

Alternatively, many people transit via another airport such as Dubai airport in order to qualify for transit flight with another airline. This also bring cost down substantially.

Like everywhere is the world, cost of living is on the rise all the time. At the same time, cost of living between yourself and another person in the same country is also different simply because of your way of life. You pay for the kind of lifestyle you want to lead and that is no different even in Qatar

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