Bucharest vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$466
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$1207
🏠 One person rent	$525	$186
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$296
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$170
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$35.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$223
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	77	55
😀 Quality of life	81	62
🏙️ Population	1.72M	2.11M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 140% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 4913th and 8825th ($1116 vs $466) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 48th in Romania and Indonesia, respectively. Check Romania vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Medan ranked 7th in Indonesia, while ranked 646th and 5663rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Medan infographic

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Prices in Bucharest vs Medan

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

	Bucharest	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.7	$1.81
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$10.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$3.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$1.51
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$1.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$172
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$86.9
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$312
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$156
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$48.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$75.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$32.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	9.2%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$1333
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$604
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$9.61
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$2.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$0.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$1.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$0.83
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$1.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$9.38
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$3.74
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$6.83
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$2.23
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$0.89
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$0.7
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.25
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$1.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$6.66
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$1.34
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$2.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$1.98
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$2.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$0.81
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$0.76
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$22.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$3.44
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$14
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$2.72
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$64.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$114
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$10637

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$970
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$910
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$885
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$777
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$802
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$692
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$857
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$775
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$762
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$873
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$675
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$681
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1056
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$752
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$835
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$667
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$789
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$898
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$909
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$643
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$895
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$591
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1039
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1024
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1103
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$618
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$805
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$703
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$854
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$832
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$926
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$797
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$706
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$848
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$766
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$724
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$668
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$749

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