Chennai vs Karachi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chennai	Karachi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$437	$430
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1065	$1029
🏠 One person rent	$159	$168
🏘️ Family rent	$272	$274
🍽️ Food expenses	$164	$146
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.2	$71.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$321	$132
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	78	63
😀 Quality of life	65	54
🏙️ Population	6.6M	14.9M

The cost of living in Chennai is 2% more expensive than in Karachi. Cities ranked 8898th and 8915th ($437 vs $430) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 2nd in India and Pakistan, respectively. Check India vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Chennai compared to 0.3 months in Karachi. Chennai ranked 5th best city to live in India vs Karachi ranked 1st in Pakistan, while ranked 5272nd and 6371st 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	$2.25	$1.75
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.1	$12.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.91	$4.41
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.97	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$2.05
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.47	$0.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$115
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$108	$71.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$313	$204
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$194	$133
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$29.5	$75.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$115
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.96	$12.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.55%	16.46%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1914	$579
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$746	$371
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.34	$0.32
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.3	$8.76
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.73	$6.37
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$0.92
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.81
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.49	$0.57
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.73	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.87	$1.13
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.55	$6.72
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$3.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.62	$5.37
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.96	$1.09
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$0.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$0.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.42	$0.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.49	$0.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$0.38
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.27
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$0.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.05	$1.24
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.94	$1.27
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.82	$2.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.8	$1.76
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.47	$3.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1	$1.35
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.78	$0.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$15.4	$15.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.79	$4.27
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.9	$11.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.7	$1.95
👖 Brand Jeans	$25.8	$18.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$50.4	$63.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$70.8	$67.6
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1729	$1491

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 Karachi

Distance	City	Cost of living
148 km or 92 mi	Hyderabad	$382
208 km or 129 mi	Nawabshah	$324
213 km or 132 mi	Mirpur Khas	$395
324 km or 201 mi	Larkana	$336
324 km or 201 mi	Bhuj	$290
366 km or 227 mi	Sukkur	$340
406 km or 252 mi	Jacobabad	$322
445 km or 277 mi	Porbandar	$330
480 km or 298 mi	Rajkot	$324
564 km or 351 mi	Mehsana	$382
593 km or 368 mi	Quetta	$291
601 km or 374 mi	Ahmedabad	$442
604 km or 375 mi	Gandhinagar	$407
626 km or 389 mi	Bhavnagar	$291
629 km or 391 mi	Jodhpur	$322
643 km or 399 mi	Pali	$305
643 km or 399 mi	Nadiad	$375
645 km or 401 mi	Chabahar	$573
675 km or 419 mi	Udaipur	$315
679 km or 422 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
683 km or 425 mi	Bahawalpur	$301
683 km or 425 mi	Iranshahr	$624
692 km or 430 mi	Vadodara	$374
711 km or 442 mi	Godhra	$366
719 km or 447 mi	Bikaner	$290
723 km or 449 mi	Surat	$705
736 km or 457 mi	Multan	$403
745 km or 463 mi	Navsari	$278
761 km or 473 mi	Kandahar	$436
769 km or 478 mi	Bhilwara	$328
775 km or 482 mi	Khanewal	$362
785 km or 488 mi	Ajmer	$274
792 km or 492 mi	Lashkargah	$439
796 km or 494 mi	Zahedan	$808
812 km or 504 mi	Burewala	$347
836 km or 519 mi	Ratlam	$303
845 km or 525 mi	Vasai	$267
865 km or 537 mi	Muscat	$1081
866 km or 538 mi	Sikar	$335
874 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$558