Canberra vs Chennai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Canberra	Chennai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2258	$409
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5105	$1006
🏠 One person rent	$1409	$142
🏘️ Family rent	$2111	$243
🍽️ Food expenses	$584	$156
🚐 Transport expenses	$117	$67
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4498	$254
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	30	79
😀 Quality of life	85	65
🏙️ Population	381K	6.6M

The cost of living in Canberra is 452% more expensive than in Chennai. Cities ranked 1373rd and 8947th ($2258 vs $409) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 12th and 15th in Australia and India, respectively. Check Australia vs India comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Canberra compared to 0.6 months in Chennai. Canberra ranked 10th best city to live in Australia vs Chennai ranked 2nd in India, while ranked 438th and 5131st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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/canberra/chennai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Canberra vs Chennai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/canberra/chennai" target="_blank">Canberra vs Chennai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Canberra vs Chennai

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

	Canberra	Chennai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.6	$2.12
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$73.7	$10.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.5	$4.18
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.03	$1.57
☕ Cappuccino	$3.75	$1.59
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.24	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1459	$160
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1187	$97.5
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2549	$282
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1714	$178
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$117	$24
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$179	$36.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.8	$7.79
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.83%	9.78%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9940	$1739
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6181	$712
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.2	$0.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86.9	$10.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.7	$4.75
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$1.06
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.44	$0.54
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.66	$0.5
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.41	$0.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$5.58
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.1	$3.18
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.7	$6.29
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$2.94
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$0.85
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.68	$1.37
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.65	$0.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.91	$0.46
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$0.2
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.28	$1.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16	$7.82
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.69	$1.79
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26.9	$4.37
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.98	$0.75
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.85	$3.25
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.55	$0.94
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.09	$0.73
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.8	$15.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.4	$2.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$53.7	$29.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.2	$2.53
👖 Brand Jeans	$80	$23
👟 Brand Sneakers	$119	$37.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2338	$71.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17844	$1792

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Canberra

Distance	City	Cost of living
81 km or 50 mi	Goulburn	$1795
161 km or 100 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
187 km or 116 mi	Wollongong	$1695
212 km or 132 mi	Bathurst	$1701
223 km or 139 mi	Orange	$1460
235 km or 146 mi	Blacktown	$1709
238 km or 148 mi	Parramatta	$2481
243 km or 151 mi	Kellyville	$2040
247 km or 154 mi	Sydney	$2844
261 km or 162 mi	Dee Why	$2354
303 km or 188 mi	Griffith	$1825
341 km or 212 mi	Dubbo	$1855
357 km or 222 mi	Shepparton	$1816
358 km or 222 mi	Newcastle	$1995
397 km or 246 mi	Traralgon	$2000
448 km or 278 mi	Pakenham	$1936
454 km or 282 mi	Berwick	$1915
459 km or 285 mi	Dandenong	$1913
464 km or 288 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
466 km or 289 mi	South Yarra	$1834
466 km or 290 mi	Bendigo	$1493
466 km or 290 mi	Melbourne	$2543
470 km or 292 mi	Sunbury	$1933
477 km or 297 mi	Frankston	$1889
485 km or 302 mi	Melton	$1896
488 km or 303 mi	Tarneit	$1813
489 km or 304 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
531 km or 330 mi	Geelong	$2179
535 km or 332 mi	Ballarat	$1606
554 km or 344 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
583 km or 362 mi	Armidale	$1273
649 km or 403 mi	Mildura	$1905
669 km or 415 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132
684 km or 425 mi	Warrnambool	$1876
698 km or 434 mi	Devonport	$1868
706 km or 438 mi	Launceston	$1728
796 km or 495 mi	Mount Gambier	$1880
852 km or 529 mi	Byron Bay	$2672
858 km or 533 mi	Hobart	$2364
902 km or 560 mi	Toowoomba	$1720

Cities near Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$306
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$232
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$302
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$322
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$508
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$294
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$320
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$348
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$339
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$317
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$283
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$275
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$507
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$290
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$297
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$339
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$325
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$331
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$274
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$303
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$273
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$292
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$265
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$330
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$328
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$317
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$290
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$332
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$280
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$342
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$313
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$359
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$255
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$281
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$247
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$327
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$271
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$250
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$264
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$259