Chennai vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chennai	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$437	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1065	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$159	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$272	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$164	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.2	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$321	$516
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	78	43
😀 Quality of life	65	61
🏙️ Population	6.6M	1.4M

The cost of living in Chennai is 50% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 8898th and 6373rd ($437 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 1st in India and Mongolia, respectively. Check India vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Chennai compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Chennai ranked 5th best city to live in India vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 5272nd and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chennai vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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Prices in Chennai vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Chennai	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.25	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.1	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.91	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.97	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.47	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$108	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$313	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$194	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$29.5	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.96	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.55%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1914	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$746	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.34	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.3	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.73	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.49	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.73	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.87	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.55	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.62	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.96	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.42	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.49	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.05	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.94	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.82	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.8	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.47	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.78	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$15.4	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.79	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.9	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.7	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$25.8	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$50.4	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$70.8	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1729	$6621

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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600