Chennai vs Dar es Salaam - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chennai	Dar es Salaam
🚶 Cost of living one person	$437	$799
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1065	$2068
🏠 One person rent	$159	$363
🏘️ Family rent	$272	$605
🍽️ Food expenses	$164	$244
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.2	$130
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$321	$288
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	78	45
😀 Quality of life	65	59
🏙️ Population	6.6M	4.72M

The cost of living in Chennai is 45% less expensive than in Dar es Salaam. Cities ranked 8898th and 6675th ($437 vs $799) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 1st in India and Tanzania, respectively. Check India vs Tanzania comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Chennai compared to 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam. Chennai ranked 5th best city to live in India vs Dar es Salaam ranked 1st in Tanzania, while ranked 5272nd and 6017th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Chennai vs Dar es Salaam

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

	Chennai	Dar es Salaam
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.25	$3.25
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.1	$19.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.91	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.97	$1.02
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$2.09
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.47	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$419
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$108	$235
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$313	$737
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$194	$422
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$29.5	$55.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$84.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.96	$36.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.55%	19.82%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1914	$1361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$746	$1189
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.34	$0.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.3	$15.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.73	$14.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.49	$0.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.73	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.87	$2.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.55	$9.75
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$5.96
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.62	$4.42
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.96	$2.73
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$0.97
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.1
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.42	$0.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.49	$0.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.32
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.3
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.05	$6.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.94	$0.98
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.82	$2.14
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.8	$3.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.47	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.78	$1
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$15.4	$87.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.79	$5.52
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.9	$17.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.7	$5.61
👖 Brand Jeans	$25.8	$22.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$50.4	$40.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$70.8	$435
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1729	$17749

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$327
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$235
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$291
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$327
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$535
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$300
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$327
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$368
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$367
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$334
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$295
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$275
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$524
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$304
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$341
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$347
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$345
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$286
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$355
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$290
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$307
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$277
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$347
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$339
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$345
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$310
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$346
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$298
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$347
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$326
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$383
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$266
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$301
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$265
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$353
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$291
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$266
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$295
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$286

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$609
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$567
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$421
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$552
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$596
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$526
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$548
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$533
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$612
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$420
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$811
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$495
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$460
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1207
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1511
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$527
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$549
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$503
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1207
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$565
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$656
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1168
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$543
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$935
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$528
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1624
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$511
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$496
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$888
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$592
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$623
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$493
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$654
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$458
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$582
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$687
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$578
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$688
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$687