Chennai vs Manila - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chennai	Manila
🚶 Cost of living one person	$437	$790
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1065	$1963
🏠 One person rent	$159	$379
🏘️ Family rent	$272	$637
🍽️ Food expenses	$164	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.2	$50.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$321	$386
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	78	74
😀 Quality of life	65	65
🏙️ Population	6.6M	1.85M

The cost of living in Chennai is 45% less expensive than in Manila. Cities ranked 8898th and 6703rd ($437 vs $790) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 5th in India and the Philippines, respectively. Check India vs the Philippines comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Chennai compared to 0.5 months in Manila. Chennai ranked 5th best city to live in India vs Manila ranked 3rd in the Philippines, while ranked 5272nd and 5220th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Chennai vs Manila

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

	Chennai	Manila
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.25	$5.15
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.1	$24.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.91	$4.27
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.97	$1.96
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$2.7
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.47	$0.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$458
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$108	$232
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$313	$815
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$194	$416
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$29.5	$74.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$114
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.96	$27.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.55%	7.47%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1914	$3756
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$746	$2382
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.34	$0.6
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.3	$13.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.73	$3.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.06
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$2.1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.49	$1.22
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.73	$1.04
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.87	$2.27
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.55	$7.83
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$5.01
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.62	$7.84
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.96	$2.97
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$3.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.42	$2.3
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.49	$2.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$3.01
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.55
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.05	$9.04
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.94	$1.44
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.82	$3.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.8	$5.39
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.47	$3.16
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1	$1.74
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.78	$1.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$15.4	$40.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.79	$7.44
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.9	$16.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.7	$5.63
👖 Brand Jeans	$25.8	$46
👟 Brand Sneakers	$50.4	$80
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$70.8	$139
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1729	$16980

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 Manila

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.7 km or 3.5 mi	Pasay	$785
6.1 km or 3.8 mi	Caloocan	$568
6.2 km or 3.9 mi	Mandaluyong	$742
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Quezon	$717
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Malabon	$674
7.9 km or 4.9 mi	Makati	$1009
8.8 km or 5.4 mi	Navotas	$657
12 km or 7.2 mi	Valenzuela	$432
12 km or 7.2 mi	Pasig	$642
12 km or 7.3 mi	Taguig	$807
15 km or 9 mi	Marikina	$555
15 km or 9.3 mi	Bacoor	$540
15 km or 9.3 mi	Paranaque	$651
15 km or 9.5 mi	Cainta	$760
16 km or 9.7 mi	Meycauayan	$561
16 km or 10 mi	Las Pinas	$628
19 km or 12 mi	Imus	$536
21 km or 13 mi	Antipolo	$570
25 km or 15 mi	Muntinlupa	$692
25 km or 16 mi	San Jose del Monte	$511
26 km or 16 mi	General Trias	$519
28 km or 17 mi	San Pedro	$617
28 km or 17 mi	Binangonan	$525
30 km or 19 mi	Dasmarinas	$414
31 km or 19 mi	Binan	$613
33 km or 20 mi	Malolos	$630
34 km or 21 mi	Santa Rosa	$575
37 km or 23 mi	Trece Martires	$542
39 km or 24 mi	Cabuyao	$616
47 km or 29 mi	Calamba	$489
58 km or 36 mi	San Fernando	$609
60 km or 37 mi	Tanauan	$535
61 km or 38 mi	Santo Tomas	$531
69 km or 43 mi	San Pablo	$477
74 km or 46 mi	Angeles	$624
75 km or 47 mi	Lipa	$425
79 km or 49 mi	Olongapo	$471
81 km or 50 mi	Mabalacat	$598
94 km or 59 mi	Batangas	$532
99 km or 61 mi	Cabanatuan	$448