Dar es Salaam vs Kuala Lumpur - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dar es Salaam	Kuala Lumpur
🚶 Cost of living one person	$811	$810
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2062	$1984
🏠 One person rent	$423	$393
🏘️ Family rent	$748	$711
🍽️ Food expenses	$225	$278
🚐 Transport expenses	$106	$64.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$323	$1392
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	44	93
😀 Quality of life	41	77
🏙️ Population	4.72M	1.98M

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 0.1% more expensive than in Kuala Lumpur. Cities ranked 6399th and 6403rd ($811 vs $810) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Tanzania and Malaysia, respectively. Check Tanzania vs Malaysia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 1.7 months in Kuala Lumpur. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st in Malaysia, while ranked 6871st and 811th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Kuala Lumpur infographic

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Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Kuala Lumpur

Prices for goods and services in Dar es Salaam and Kuala Lumpur are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Dar es Salaam	Kuala Lumpur
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.93	$4.17
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$20.1	$25.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.15	$4.54
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$4.64
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.4	$0.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$427	$450
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$325	$297
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1029	$928
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$551	$548
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$40.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.6	$61.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33	$25.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.47%	4.59%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3163	$2996
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5427	$1427
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.29	$0.69
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.1	$11.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.2	$9.04
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$0.49
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.9
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.71	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$1.37
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.76	$2.32
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.55	$13.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.06	$4.64
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.28	$9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$2.81
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$1.5
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$2.58
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.45
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.21
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.28	$0.43
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.26	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.83	$16.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$3.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$4.05
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.14	$3.45
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.76	$3.64
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.24	$1.57
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.96	$2.19
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$77.9	$41.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.94	$4.82
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.2	$20
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.84	$5.65
👖 Brand Jeans	$21.5	$56.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$39.3	$77.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$312	$254
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19371	$8723

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$552
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$523
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$486
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$545
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$580
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$502
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$561
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$638
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$408
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$760
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$461
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$589
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1105
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1506
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$525
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$541
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$500
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1100
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$566
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$625
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1150
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$522
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$872
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$483
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1465
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$490
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$493
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$748
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$587
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$602
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$492
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$605
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$457
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$562
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$648
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$558
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$648
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$650

Cities near Kuala Lumpur

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.7 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
15 km or 9.1 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
19 km or 12 mi	Shah Alam	$645
24 km or 15 mi	Putrajaya	$532
25 km or 16 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
30 km or 19 mi	Klang	$670
54 km or 33 mi	Seremban	$604
123 km or 77 mi	Malacca	$669
124 km or 77 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
155 km or 97 mi	Muar	$682
167 km or 104 mi	Dumai	$543
176 km or 109 mi	Ipoh	$628
196 km or 122 mi	Kuantan	$529
199 km or 124 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
211 km or 131 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
217 km or 135 mi	Taiping	$695
219 km or 136 mi	Kluang	$679
229 km or 142 mi	Chukai	$565
282 km or 175 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
291 km or 181 mi	Butterworth	$619
291 km or 181 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
292 km or 181 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
293 km or 182 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
294 km or 183 mi	George Town	$620
297 km or 184 mi	Johor Bahru	$759
309 km or 192 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
311 km or 193 mi	Singapore City	$3059
315 km or 195 mi	Bukit Merah	$2788
335 km or 208 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
338 km or 210 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
341 km or 212 mi	Medan	$481
346 km or 215 mi	Batam	$539
360 km or 224 mi	Binjai	$470
361 km or 225 mi	Alor Setar	$490
394 km or 245 mi	Tanjung Pinang	$506
402 km or 250 mi	Kangar	$536
413 km or 257 mi	Langkawi	$560
441 km or 274 mi	Langsa	$461
451 km or 280 mi	Hat Yai	$570
457 km or 284 mi	Ko Lipe	$719