Chennai vs Karachi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chennai	Karachi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$430	$442
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1140	$1064
🏠 One person rent	$152	$188
🏘️ Family rent	$346	$342
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$147
🚐 Transport expenses	$65.4	$64.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$848	$179
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	78	63
😀 Quality of life	66	50
🏙️ Population	6.6M	14.9M

The cost of living in Chennai is 3% less expensive than in Karachi. Cities ranked 8897th and 8872nd ($430 vs $442) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 3rd in India and Pakistan, respectively. Check India vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Chennai compared to 0.4 months in Karachi. Chennai ranked 4th best city to live in India vs Karachi ranked 1st in Pakistan, while ranked 4021st and 6253rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Chennai vs Karachi infographic

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Prices in Chennai vs Karachi

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

	Chennai	Karachi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.83	$1.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.6	$12
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.01	$4.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.05	$2.17
☕ Cappuccino	$1.98	$2.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.46	$0.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$170	$142
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$102	$97.4
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$470	$316
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$254	$197
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$25.5	$71.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.3	$10.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.23%	19.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1935	$545
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$767	$359
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$0.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.4	$8.21
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.84	$5.29
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$0.96
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.81
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$0.53
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.91	$1.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.5	$5.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$3.27
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.5	$4.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$1.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$0.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$0.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$0.65
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$0.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$0.54
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.27
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$0.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.67	$3.49
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$1.38
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4	$2.04
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.82	$1.65
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.54	$2.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.03	$1.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.79	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$18.7	$16.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.86	$4.05
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$12.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$1.95
👖 Brand Jeans	$26.2	$16.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$48.6	$57.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$80.7	$50.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1573	$1405

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 Karachi

Distance	City	Cost of living
148 km or 92 mi	Hyderabad	$334
208 km or 129 mi	Nawabshah	$325
213 km or 132 mi	Mirpur Khas	$394
324 km or 201 mi	Larkana	$338
324 km or 201 mi	Bhuj	$288
366 km or 227 mi	Sukkur	$339
406 km or 252 mi	Jacobabad	$325
445 km or 277 mi	Porbandar	$333
480 km or 298 mi	Rajkot	$311
564 km or 351 mi	Mehsana	$389
593 km or 368 mi	Quetta	$266
601 km or 374 mi	Ahmedabad	$452
604 km or 375 mi	Gandhinagar	$415
626 km or 389 mi	Bhavnagar	$298
629 km or 391 mi	Jodhpur	$366
643 km or 399 mi	Pali	$324
643 km or 399 mi	Nadiad	$382
645 km or 401 mi	Chabahar	$585
675 km or 419 mi	Udaipur	$310
679 km or 422 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
683 km or 425 mi	Bahawalpur	$342
683 km or 425 mi	Iranshahr	$605
692 km or 430 mi	Vadodara	$376
711 km or 442 mi	Godhra	$371
719 km or 447 mi	Bikaner	$297
723 km or 449 mi	Surat	$771
736 km or 457 mi	Multan	$392
745 km or 463 mi	Navsari	$286
761 km or 473 mi	Kandahar	$468
769 km or 478 mi	Bhilwara	$340
775 km or 482 mi	Khanewal	$361
785 km or 488 mi	Ajmer	$279
792 km or 492 mi	Lashkargah	$476
796 km or 494 mi	Zahedan	$829
812 km or 504 mi	Burewala	$356
836 km or 519 mi	Ratlam	$311
845 km or 525 mi	Vasai	$284
865 km or 537 mi	Muscat	$1090
866 km or 538 mi	Sikar	$350
874 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$552