Abu Dhabi vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1942	$466
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4262	$1207
🏠 One person rent	$1271	$186
🏘️ Family rent	$2152	$296
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$170
🚐 Transport expenses	$77.2	$35.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3050	$223
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	53	55
😀 Quality of life	85	62
🏙️ Population	1.57M	2.11M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 317% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 2187th and 8825th ($1942 vs $466) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 48th in the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Medan ranked 7th in Indonesia, while ranked 443rd and 5663rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Medan infographic

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Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Medan

Prices for goods and services in Abu Dhabi and Medan are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Abu Dhabi	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.9	$1.81
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.6	$10.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.53	$3.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.7	$1.51
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$1.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.34	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1358	$172
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1002	$86.9
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2476	$312
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1762	$156
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.6	$48.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$75.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$32.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.01%	9.2%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5485	$1333
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12028	$604
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$9.61
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.63	$2.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$0.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.97	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$0.83
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.63	$1.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$9.38
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.07	$3.74
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$6.83
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$2.23
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$0.89
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$0.7
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.25
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.41	$1.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$6.66
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.54	$1.34
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.29	$2.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.83	$1.98
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$2.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.73	$0.81
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.92	$0.76
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.4	$22.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$3.44
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.5	$14
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$2.72
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.4	$64.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$114
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$598	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12663	$10637

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Abu Dhabi

Distance	City	Cost of living
117 km or 73 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2514
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1419
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1449
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2521
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1228
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1849
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1770
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$792
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1078
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1201
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1230
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1081
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$530
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$908
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1008
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$529
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$873
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$930
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$534
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$568
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$553
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$453
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$477
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$530
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$503
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$573
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$557
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$761
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$624
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$463
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1627
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$483

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$460
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$449
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$423
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$552
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$563
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$754
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$701
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$657
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$554
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$704
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$756
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$592
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$681
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$509
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$789
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$731
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$866
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$609
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$584
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$570
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$643
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$519
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$592
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$386
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$689
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$807
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$503
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$771
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1014
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$773
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$854
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$788
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$552
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534