Abu Dhabi vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1828	$481
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4703	$1335
🏠 One person rent	$1173	$187
🏘️ Family rent	$2618	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$189
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.6	$35.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3781	$262
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	53	53
😀 Quality of life	83	44
🏙️ Population	1.48M	2.11M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 280% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 2320th and 8745th ($1828 vs $481) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 47th 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 2.1 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 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 438th and 6633rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Medan infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/abu-dhabi/medan.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Medan infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/abu-dhabi/medan" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

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	$10.6	$1.97
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$12.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.61	$3.31
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$2.39
☕ Cappuccino	$5.72	$2.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1236	$174
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$107
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2996	$469
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$265
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$40.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$62.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.24%	9.24%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5750	$1337
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4816	$614
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$8.02
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.53	$2.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$1.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$8.21
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$3.56
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$6.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$15.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.27	$2.26
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.54	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.98	$2.41
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$0.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.88	$0.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.3	$23
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$3.48
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$15.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$2.73
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.9	$55.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$641	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12452	$10763

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Abu Dhabi

Distance	City	Cost of living
117 km or 73 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2379
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1494
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1844
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2240
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1239
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1779
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1709
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$780
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$967
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1223
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1243
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1090
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$547
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$1068
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1056
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$548
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$897
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$901
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$514
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$518
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$589
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$551
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$546
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$563
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$557
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$585
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$515
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$464
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$605
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$529
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1637
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$536

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$470
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$461
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$695
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$620
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$619
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$628
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$571
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$670
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$560
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$645
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$490
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$532
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$536
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$604
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$543
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$570
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$669
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$682
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$940
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$792
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$782
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$529
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501