Blantyre vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Blantyre	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$506	$466
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1306	$1207
🏠 One person rent	$147	$186
🏘️ Family rent	$239	$296
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$170
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.2	$35.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$239	$223
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	23	55
😀 Quality of life	30	62
🏙️ Population	800K	2.11M

The cost of living in Blantyre is 9% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 8632nd and 8825th ($506 vs $466) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 48th in Malawi and Indonesia, respectively. Check Malawi vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Blantyre compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Medan ranked 7th in Indonesia, while ranked 8786th and 5663rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Blantyre vs Medan infographic

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Prices in Blantyre vs Medan

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

	Blantyre	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.97	$1.81
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.6	$10.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.69	$3.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$1.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$1.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$176	$172
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$81.2	$86.9
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$322	$312
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$145	$156
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.9	$48.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$33.4	$75.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.2	$32.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.77%	9.2%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10537	$1333
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$393	$604
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$0.3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$9.61
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.1	$2.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$0.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.94	$1.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.83
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.37	$1.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$9.38
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$3.74
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.17	$6.83
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.23
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$0.89
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$0.7
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.25
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.72	$1.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.49	$6.66
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$1.34
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$2.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.45	$1.98
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.28	$2.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$0.81
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$0.76
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$22.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.44	$3.44
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$14
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.96	$2.72
👖 Brand Jeans	$34	$64.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.1	$114
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$357	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$589	$10637

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Blantyre

Distance	City	Cost of living
57 km or 35 mi	Zomba	$458
60 km or 37 mi	Mulanje	$461
112 km or 70 mi	Ntcheu	$493
149 km or 92 mi	Mangochi	$496
157 km or 98 mi	Tete	$820
191 km or 119 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
240 km or 149 mi	Lilongwe	$592
307 km or 191 mi	Quelimane	$692
405 km or 252 mi	Chimoio	$916
432 km or 269 mi	Mutare	$755
450 km or 280 mi	Beira	$996
454 km or 282 mi	Marondera	$779
458 km or 285 mi	Mzimba	$565
463 km or 287 mi	Nampula	$935
478 km or 297 mi	Harare	$1021
487 km or 303 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
493 km or 307 mi	Mzuzu	$527
541 km or 336 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
611 km or 380 mi	Kadoma	$761
626 km or 389 mi	Nacala	$1168
637 km or 396 mi	Kwekwe	$716
650 km or 404 mi	Masvingo	$873
674 km or 419 mi	Pemba	$1511
685 km or 425 mi	Gweru	$587
708 km or 440 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
721 km or 448 mi	Lusaka	$655
746 km or 463 mi	Kasama	$888
754 km or 469 mi	Ndola	$577
784 km or 487 mi	Mbeya	$495
803 km or 499 mi	Kitwe	$1062
811 km or 504 mi	Mufulira	$1278
837 km or 520 mi	Mansa	$912
837 km or 520 mi	Bulawayo	$658
849 km or 528 mi	Chingola	$1069
865 km or 537 mi	Choma	$687
935 km or 581 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
991 km or 616 mi	Francistown	$587
999 km or 621 mi	Livingstone	$653
1000 km or 621 mi	Moroni	$1207
1038 km or 645 mi	Morogoro	$421

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