Chennai vs Edinburgh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chennai	Edinburgh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$430	$2140
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1140	$5387
🏠 One person rent	$152	$1269
🏘️ Family rent	$346	$2336
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$530
🚐 Transport expenses	$65.4	$161
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$848	$3522
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	78	88
😀 Quality of life	66	94
🏙️ Population	6.6M	488K

The cost of living in Chennai is 80% less expensive than in Edinburgh. Cities ranked 8897th and 1491st ($430 vs $2140) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 36th in India and the United Kingdom, respectively. Check India vs the United Kingdom comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Chennai compared to 1.6 months in Edinburgh. Chennai ranked 4th best city to live in India vs Edinburgh ranked 3rd in the United Kingdom, while ranked 4021st and 34th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Chennai vs Edinburgh infographic

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

Prices in Chennai vs Edinburgh

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

	Chennai	Edinburgh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.83	$17.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.6	$75.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.01	$9.21
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.05	$7.09
☕ Cappuccino	$1.98	$4.64
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.46	$2.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$170	$1331
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$102	$970
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$470	$2573
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$254	$1865
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$25.5	$188
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39	$291
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.3	$38.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.23%	5.75%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1935	$6219
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$767	$4199
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$2.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.4	$83
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.84	$27.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$1.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$1.69
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$1.87
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.91	$4.14
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.5	$11.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$9.87
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.5	$16.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$2.87
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.41
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$3.62
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$4.38
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$1.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$1.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.87
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$3.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.67	$10.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$2.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4	$18.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.82	$6.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.54	$4.45
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.03	$3.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.79	$1.53
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$18.7	$50.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.86	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$106
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$21.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$26.2	$111
👟 Brand Sneakers	$48.6	$106
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$80.7	$1772
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1573	$21911

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	$315
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$258
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$354
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$360
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$514
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$306
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$346
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$367
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$355
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$338
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$304
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$302
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$533
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$311
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$314
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$375
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$359
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$304
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$295
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$351
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$292
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$316
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$280
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$300
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$354
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$349
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$316
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$311
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$304
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$310
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$339
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$366
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$298
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$330
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$272
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$357
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$307
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$272
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$292
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$306

Cities near Edinburgh

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1610
21 km or 13 mi	Livingston	$1608
21 km or 13 mi	Dunfermline	$1692
42 km or 26 mi	Alloa	$1649
49 km or 30 mi	Cumbernauld	$1475
49 km or 31 mi	Stirling	$1604
52 km or 32 mi	Perth	$1500
56 km or 35 mi	Hamilton	$1699
59 km or 37 mi	Dundee	$1482
65 km or 40 mi	East Kilbride	$1763
66 km or 41 mi	Glasgow	$2011
78 km or 48 mi	Paisley	$1765
89 km or 56 mi	Kilmarnock	$1480
98 km or 61 mi	Greenock	$1601
99 km or 61 mi	Irvine	$1551
102 km or 63 mi	Dumfries	$1246
105 km or 65 mi	Ayr	$1404
120 km or 74 mi	Carlisle	$1567
147 km or 91 mi	Newcastle upon Tyne	$1726
149 km or 93 mi	Aberdeen	$1614
150 km or 93 mi	Gateshead	$1705
153 km or 95 mi	Tynemouth	$1638
153 km or 95 mi	Jarrow	$1651
154 km or 96 mi	South Shields	$1628
158 km or 98 mi	Washington	$1637
158 km or 98 mi	Whitehaven	$1732
164 km or 102 mi	Sunderland	$1510
166 km or 103 mi	Durham	$1707
173 km or 107 mi	Bishop Auckland	$1592
182 km or 113 mi	Inverness	$1722
189 km or 117 mi	Hartlepool	$1328
189 km or 117 mi	Elgin	$1393
190 km or 118 mi	Darlington	$1288
194 km or 121 mi	Stockton-on-Tees	$1377
197 km or 123 mi	Middlesbrough	$1500
211 km or 131 mi	Morecambe	$1714
212 km or 132 mi	Bangor	$1382
213 km or 132 mi	Lancaster	$1629
216 km or 134 mi	Douglas	$1968
224 km or 139 mi	Newtownabbey	$1692