Dili vs Kuala Lumpur - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dili	Kuala Lumpur
🚶 Cost of living one person	$511	$810
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1255	$1984
🏠 One person rent	$226	$393
🏘️ Family rent	$422	$711
🍽️ Food expenses	$207	$278
🚐 Transport expenses	$27	$64.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$391	$1392
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	12	93
😀 Quality of life	30	77
🏙️ Population	222K	1.98M

The cost of living in Dili is 37% less expensive than in Kuala Lumpur. Cities ranked 8549th and 6403rd ($511 vs $810) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in East Timor and Malaysia, respectively. Check East Timor vs Malaysia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.8 months in Dili compared to 1.7 months in Kuala Lumpur. Dili ranked 1st best city to live in East Timor vs Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st in Malaysia, while ranked 8098th 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 Dili vs Kuala Lumpur infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/dili/kuala-lumpur.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dili vs Kuala Lumpur infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dili/kuala-lumpur" target="_blank">Dili vs Kuala Lumpur - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dili vs Kuala Lumpur

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

	Dili	Kuala Lumpur
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.34	$4.17
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$19.5	$25.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.73	$4.54
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$4.64
☕ Cappuccino	$1.83	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.52	$0.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$212	$450
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$147	$297
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$462	$928
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$304	$548
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39	$40.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.8	$61.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27	$25.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.97%	4.59%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1490	$2996
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$909	$1427
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.37	$0.69
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$13.8	$11.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.31	$9.04
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.05	$0.49
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.14	$1.9
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.66	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.37
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.61	$2.32
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.95	$13.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.25	$4.64
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$2.81
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.5
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$2.58
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.45
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$1.21
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.43
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.16	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.67	$16.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.4	$3.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.85	$4.05
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.63	$3.45
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.88	$3.64
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.55	$1.57
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.25	$2.19
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$23	$41.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.26	$4.82
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14.1	$20
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.85	$5.65
👖 Brand Jeans	$28.2	$56.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$61.9	$77.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$95.6	$254
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3045	$8723

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dili

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ainaro	$501
62 km or 38 mi	Maliana	$503
97 km or 60 mi	Baucau	$502
282 km or 176 mi	Kupang	$509
473 km or 294 mi	Baubau	$506
607 km or 377 mi	Kendari	$512
611 km or 380 mi	Ambon	$507
719 km or 447 mi	Darwin	$1617
754 km or 469 mi	Bima	$597
779 km or 484 mi	Makassar	$525
829 km or 515 mi	Parepare	$508
857 km or 533 mi	Palopo	$522
1040 km or 646 mi	Mataram	$355
1049 km or 652 mi	Gorontalo	$441
1058 km or 657 mi	Ternate	$442
1061 km or 660 mi	Palu	$553
1061 km or 660 mi	Sorong	$505
1113 km or 692 mi	Bitung	$442
1121 km or 696 mi	Manado	$439
1134 km or 705 mi	Ubud	$845
1139 km or 708 mi	Denpasar	$497
1163 km or 722 mi	Bali	$1267
1265 km or 786 mi	Balikpapan	$606
1273 km or 791 mi	Manokwari	$500
1293 km or 804 mi	Samarinda	$580
1317 km or 818 mi	Bontang	$553
1324 km or 823 mi	Banjarbaru	$460
1347 km or 837 mi	Banjarmasin	$469
1363 km or 847 mi	Probolinggo	$614
1398 km or 869 mi	Pasuruan	$510
1421 km or 883 mi	Surabaya	$549
1427 km or 887 mi	Malang	$365
1438 km or 894 mi	Batu	$410
1452 km or 902 mi	Mojokerto	$505
1470 km or 913 mi	Palangka Raya	$475
1478 km or 918 mi	Blitar	$453
1495 km or 929 mi	Kediri	$464
1550 km or 963 mi	Madiun	$486
1586 km or 985 mi	Tarakan	$527
1628 km or 1012 mi	Surakarta	$417

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