Bucharest vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Bucharest	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1138	$461
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2971	$1179
🏠 One person rent	$535	$185
🏘️ Family rent	$931	$299
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$84.2	$34
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1467	$230
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	78	55
😀 Quality of life	84	48
🏙️ Population	1.72M	2.11M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 147% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 4935th and 8850th ($1138 vs $461) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 48th in Romania and Indonesia, respectively. Check Romania vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Bucharest compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Medan ranked 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 508th and 6907th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$11.9	$1.73
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$57.2	$11.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.13	$3.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.53	$1.74
☕ Cappuccino	$3.56	$1.8
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.41	$0.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$586	$169
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1055	$308
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$699	$179
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$99.4	$43.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$66.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.4	$28.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.13%	9.23%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4123	$1205
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2286	$591
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.96	$0.3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.9	$8.11
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.84	$2.58
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.76	$0.75
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.66	$1.24
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.08	$1.17
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$0.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.75	$1.42
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$7.93
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.76	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$6.63
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$2.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.53
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$0.9
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$1.42
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.33	$1.09
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.76	$7.62
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$1.56
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.73	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.02	$1.92
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.79	$2.34
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.77	$0.8
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.11	$0.75
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.8	$19.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.67	$3.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$69.3	$14.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$2.66
👖 Brand Jeans	$86.8	$55.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$769	$122
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16525	$9091

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	$999
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$956
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$926
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$784
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$800
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$724
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$831
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$758
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$777
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$970
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$695
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$666
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1150
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$759
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$826
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$704
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$732
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$805
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$910
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$983
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$665
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$950
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$607
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1099
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1062
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1132
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$840
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$716
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$916
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$844
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$864
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$841
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$738
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$872
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$763
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$773
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$683
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$795

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$458
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$470
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$451
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$485
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$438
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$701
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$572
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$558
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$792
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$740
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$696
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$663
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$551
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$762
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$790
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$634
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$750
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$564
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$831
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$813
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$981
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$664
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$627
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$628
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$678
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$513
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$622
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$736
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$846
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$495
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$788
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1059
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$551
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$808
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$891
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$780
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$588
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$572