Dili vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dili	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$511	$481
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1255	$1335
🏠 One person rent	$226	$187
🏘️ Family rent	$422	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$207	$189
🚐 Transport expenses	$27	$35.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$391	$262
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	12	53
😀 Quality of life	30	44
🏙️ Population	222K	2.11M

The cost of living in Dili is 6% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 8549th and 8745th ($511 vs $481) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 47th in East Timor and Indonesia, respectively. Check East Timor vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.8 months in Dili compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Dili ranked 1st best city to live in East Timor vs Medan ranked 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 8098th and 6633rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dili vs Medan infographic

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

Prices in Dili vs Medan

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

	Dili	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.34	$1.97
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$19.5	$12.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.73	$3.31
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$2.39
☕ Cappuccino	$1.83	$2.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.52	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$212	$174
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$147	$107
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$462	$469
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$304	$265
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39	$40.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.8	$62.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.97%	9.24%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1490	$1337
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$909	$614
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.37	$0.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$13.8	$8.02
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.31	$2.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.05	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.14	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.66	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.61	$1.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.95	$8.21
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.25	$3.56
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$6.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$0.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$0.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.16	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.67	$15.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.4	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.85	$2.26
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.63	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.88	$2.41
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.55	$0.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.25	$0.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$23	$23
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.26	$3.48
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14.1	$15.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.85	$2.73
👖 Brand Jeans	$28.2	$55.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$61.9	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$95.6	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3045	$10763

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

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 Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$470
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$461
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$695
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$620
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$619
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$628
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$571
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$670
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$560
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$645
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$490
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$532
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$536
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$604
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$543
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$570
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$669
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$682
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$940
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$792
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$782
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$529
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501