Chennai vs Houston - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chennai	Houston
🚶 Cost of living one person	$430	$2265
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1140	$5664
🏠 One person rent	$152	$1305
🏘️ Family rent	$346	$2467
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$581
🚐 Transport expenses	$65.4	$212
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$848	$4390
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	78	100
😀 Quality of life	66	91
🏙️ Population	6.6M	2.3M

The cost of living in Chennai is 81% less expensive than in Houston. Cities ranked 8897th and 1229th ($430 vs $2265) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 1115th in India and the United States, respectively. Check India vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Chennai compared to 1.9 months in Houston. Chennai ranked 4th best city to live in India vs Houston ranked 14th in the United States, while ranked 4021st and 97th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Chennai vs Houston

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

	Chennai	Houston
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.83	$17.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.6	$76
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.01	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.05	$5.88
☕ Cappuccino	$1.98	$5.4
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.46	$2.71
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$170	$1390
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$102	$1037
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$470	$2766
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$254	$2058
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$25.5	$132
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39	$202
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.3	$65.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.23%	6.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1935	$2714
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$767	$1949
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$1.25
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.4	$71.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.84	$23.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.92
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$3
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$3.4
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.91	$4.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.5	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$11.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.5	$16.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$4.29
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.37
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$3.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$3.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$2.73
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$2.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$1.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$3.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.67	$14.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$2.15
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4	$9.62
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.82	$9.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.54	$5.13
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.03	$3.64
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.79	$2.46
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$18.7	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.86	$14.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$127
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$21.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$26.2	$50.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$48.6	$98.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$80.7	$1470
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1573	$18964

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 Houston

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Pasadena	$2182
25 km or 15 mi	Pearland	$2108
25 km or 16 mi	Missouri	$2087
27 km or 17 mi	Deer Park	$2196
29 km or 18 mi	Sugar Land	$2028
32 km or 20 mi	Spring	$2093
33 km or 21 mi	Friendswood	$2097
35 km or 22 mi	La Porte	$2232
40 km or 25 mi	Baytown	$2311
41 km or 25 mi	League	$2065
42 km or 26 mi	Alvin	$2056
47 km or 29 mi	Rosenberg	$2107
48 km or 30 mi	The Woodlands	$2698
59 km or 37 mi	Texas City	$2014
62 km or 38 mi	Conroe	$1799
76 km or 47 mi	Galveston	$1855
81 km or 50 mi	Lake Jackson	$2089
108 km or 67 mi	Huntsville	$2089
126 km or 78 mi	Beaumont	$1673
129 km or 80 mi	College Station	$1853
138 km or 86 mi	Bryan	$1944
140 km or 87 mi	Port Arthur	$1907
186 km or 115 mi	Lufkin	$1878
188 km or 117 mi	Victoria	$2215
203 km or 126 mi	Sulphur	$2037
215 km or 134 mi	Lake Charles	$1986
217 km or 135 mi	Nacogdoches	$1510
229 km or 142 mi	Pflugerville	$2218
234 km or 145 mi	Austin	$2455
236 km or 146 mi	Round Rock	$2163
239 km or 149 mi	Temple	$2134
242 km or 150 mi	Kyle	$2223
242 km or 150 mi	Georgetown	$2192
247 km or 153 mi	San Marcos	$2224
249 km or 155 mi	Cedar Park	$2244
250 km or 156 mi	Seguin	$2182
254 km or 158 mi	Leander	$2260
261 km or 162 mi	Waco	$2230
262 km or 163 mi	Harker Heights	$2044
264 km or 164 mi	New Braunfels	$2182