Chennai vs Male - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chennai	Male
🚶 Cost of living one person	$430	$1304
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1140	$3010
🏠 One person rent	$152	$814
🏘️ Family rent	$346	$1624
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$358
🚐 Transport expenses	$65.4	$42
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$848	$1263
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	78	7
😀 Quality of life	66	62
🏙️ Population	6.6M	133K

The cost of living in Chennai is 67% less expensive than in Male. Cities ranked 8897th and 4205th ($430 vs $1304) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 2nd in India and Maldives, respectively. Check India vs Maldives comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Chennai compared to 1 months in Male. Chennai ranked 4th best city to live in India vs Male ranked 1st in Maldives, while ranked 4021st and 4917th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Chennai vs Male

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

	Chennai	Male
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.83	$5.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.6	$27.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.01	$9.82
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.05	$4.57
☕ Cappuccino	$1.98	$3.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.46	$1.21
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$170	$824
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$102	$636
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$470	$1648
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$254	$1401
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$25.5	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39	$96.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.3	$77.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.23%	11.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1935	$2651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$767	$2231
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.4	$25.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.84	$17.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$0.93
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$1.93
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$1.59
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$1.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.91	$1.81
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.5	$9.95
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$5.82
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.5	$8.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$3.91
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$3.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$3.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$3.43
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$1.54
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.67	$9.79
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$2.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4	$7.83
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.82	$5.32
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.54	$3.74
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.03	$3.13
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.79	$1.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$18.7	$73.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.86	$8.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$22
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$4.33
👖 Brand Jeans	$26.2	$51.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$48.6	$90.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$80.7	$163
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1573	$3201

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 Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1651
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$333
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$287
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$275
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$244
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$273
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$306
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$383
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$346
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$580
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$631
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$294
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$627
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$498
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$467
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$429
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$502
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$306
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$310
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$325
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$316
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$339
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$425
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$344
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$582
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$300
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$295
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$314
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$302
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$311
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$304
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$412
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$546
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$280
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$533
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$306
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$351
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$342
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$360