Chennai vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Chennai	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$409	$1010
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1006	$2467
🏠 One person rent	$142	$555
🏘️ Family rent	$243	$956
🍽️ Food expenses	$156	$325
🚐 Transport expenses	$67	$35.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$254	$512
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	79	8
😀 Quality of life	65	55
🏙️ Population	6.6M	77.6K

The cost of living in Chennai is 60% less expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 8947th and 5497th ($409 vs $1010) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 15th and 1st in India and Thailand, respectively. Check India vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Chennai compared to 0.5 months in Phuket. Chennai ranked 2nd best city to live in India vs Phuket ranked 9th in Thailand, while ranked 5131st and 6330th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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

Prices in Chennai vs Phuket

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

	Chennai	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.12	$5.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.9	$40.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.18	$9.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.57	$2.46
☕ Cappuccino	$1.59	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$160	$650
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$97.5	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$282	$1157
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$178	$761
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$24	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$36.6	$96.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$7.79	$19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.78%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1739	$3728
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$712	$2603
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.31	$1.53
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$23.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.75	$11.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.54	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.5	$1.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.72	$1.59
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.85	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.58	$19.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.18	$3.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.29	$11.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$3.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.85	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$2.3
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$2.17
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$1.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.2	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.01	$1.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.82	$19.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$1.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.37	$4.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.75	$3.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.25	$2.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.94	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.73	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$15.6	$53.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.6	$7.75
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.9	$29.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.53	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$64.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$37.6	$97.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$71.7	$565
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1792	$13979

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	$306
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$232
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$302
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$322
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$508
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$294
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$320
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$348
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$339
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$317
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$283
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$275
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$507
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$290
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$297
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$339
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$325
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$331
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$274
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$303
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$273
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$292
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$265
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$330
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$328
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$317
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$290
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$332
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$280
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$342
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$313
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$359
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$255
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$281
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$247
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$327
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$271
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$250
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$264
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$259

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992