Guangzhou vs Surabaya - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Guangzhou	Surabaya
🚶 Cost of living one person	$758	$551
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1996	$1391
🏠 One person rent	$322	$222
🏘️ Family rent	$570	$373
🍽️ Food expenses	$267	$219
🚐 Transport expenses	$89.1	$49.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$792	$360
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	97	75
😀 Quality of life	75	68
🏙️ Population	18.7M	3.01M

The cost of living in Guangzhou is 38% more expensive than in Surabaya. Cities ranked 6838th and 8275th ($758 vs $551) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 36th and 14th in China and Indonesia, respectively. Check China vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1 months in Guangzhou compared to 0.7 months in Surabaya. Guangzhou ranked 6th best city to live in China vs Surabaya ranked 1st in Indonesia, while ranked 2100th and 4631st among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Guangzhou vs Surabaya infographic

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Prices in Guangzhou vs Surabaya

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

	Guangzhou	Surabaya
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.82	$1.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28	$13.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.46	$3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.07	$2.41
☕ Cappuccino	$3.08	$1.74
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.48	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$472	$230
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$222	$138
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$862	$410
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$410	$251
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$36.4	$46.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.4	$70.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$13.1	$19.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.97%	7.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9090	$2226
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3370	$1338
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.42	$0.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$24	$8.97
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.76	$4.26
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$0.83
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.16	$1.45
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$0.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.54	$1.41
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.7	$9.51
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.7	$3.24
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15	$8.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$2.46
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$1.54
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$2.25
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.63
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$1.32
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.9
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.44	$0.29
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.29	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.34	$30
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.03	$1.79
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.85	$2.41
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.35	$2.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.52	$2.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.17	$0.77
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.68	$0.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52.5	$21.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.25	$2.98
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29	$12
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.51	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$38.4	$61
👟 Brand Sneakers	$70.3	$76.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$185
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14783	$9160

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Guangzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Foshan	$589
51 km or 32 mi	Dongguan	$662
63 km or 39 mi	Jiangmen	$829
65 km or 41 mi	Qingyuan	$777
67 km or 42 mi	Zhongshan	$518
83 km or 52 mi	Zhaoqing	$794
100 km or 62 mi	Zhuhai	$662
102 km or 63 mi	Kaiping	$827
105 km or 65 mi	Shenzhen	$878
111 km or 69 mi	Macau	$1746
118 km or 73 mi	Huizhou	$608
127 km or 79 mi	Yunfu	$816
131 km or 81 mi	Kowloon	$2414
132 km or 82 mi	Hong Kong	$2718
162 km or 100 mi	Heyuan	$766
189 km or 117 mi	Shaoguan	$818
194 km or 121 mi	Yangjiang	$892
202 km or 126 mi	Wuzhou	$809
205 km or 127 mi	Lianzhou	$765
216 km or 134 mi	Shanwei	$941
225 km or 140 mi	Hezhou	$766
281 km or 175 mi	Gaozhou	$780
291 km or 181 mi	Maoming	$773
298 km or 185 mi	Chenzhou	$750
298 km or 185 mi	Puning	$579
319 km or 198 mi	Meizhou	$669
321 km or 199 mi	Jieyang	$451
323 km or 201 mi	Yulin	$726
345 km or 214 mi	Ganzhou	$897
349 km or 217 mi	Chaozhou	$454
352 km or 219 mi	Shantou	$589
364 km or 226 mi	Zhanjiang	$790
373 km or 232 mi	Guigang	$693
384 km or 239 mi	Guilin	$546
406 km or 252 mi	Yongzhou	$634
414 km or 257 mi	Liuzhou	$574
416 km or 259 mi	Laibin	$598
424 km or 264 mi	Hengyang	$622
440 km or 273 mi	Longyan	$697
460 km or 286 mi	Haikou	$677

Cities near Surabaya

Distance	City	Cost of living
42 km or 26 mi	Mojokerto	$413
48 km or 30 mi	Pasuruan	$457
73 km or 45 mi	Batu	$409
77 km or 48 mi	Probolinggo	$470
83 km or 51 mi	Malang	$384
102 km or 63 mi	Kediri	$447
115 km or 71 mi	Blitar	$440
141 km or 87 mi	Madiun	$456
215 km or 133 mi	Surakarta	$409
247 km or 153 mi	Salatiga	$422
258 km or 160 mi	Semarang	$488
269 km or 167 mi	Yogyakarta	$445
286 km or 177 mi	Bali	$1134
311 km or 194 mi	Ubud	$834
315 km or 196 mi	Denpasar	$489
340 km or 211 mi	Pekalongan	$471
400 km or 249 mi	Tegal	$482
401 km or 249 mi	Mataram	$402
414 km or 257 mi	Cilacap	$478
464 km or 288 mi	Banjar	$488
464 km or 288 mi	Cirebon	$523
476 km or 296 mi	Banjarbaru	$449
481 km or 299 mi	Banjarmasin	$459
501 km or 311 mi	Tasikmalaya	$367
572 km or 355 mi	Bandung	$534
575 km or 357 mi	Palangka Raya	$470
576 km or 358 mi	Cimahi	$490
642 km or 399 mi	Sukabumi	$561
644 km or 400 mi	Bekasi	$555
659 km or 410 mi	Bogor	$480
660 km or 410 mi	Depok	$400
661 km or 411 mi	Jakarta	$699
672 km or 418 mi	Bima	$588
673 km or 418 mi	South Tangerang	$567
685 km or 425 mi	Tangerang	$665
738 km or 459 mi	Serang	$517
756 km or 470 mi	Cilegon	$511
774 km or 481 mi	Makassar	$523
820 km or 510 mi	Balikpapan	$598
842 km or 523 mi	Parepare	$502