Islamabad vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Islamabad	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$442	$481
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1170	$1335
🏠 One person rent	$199	$187
🏘️ Family rent	$457	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$156	$189
🚐 Transport expenses	$34.9	$35.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$261	$262
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	26 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	69	53
😀 Quality of life	49	44
🏙️ Population	1.01M	2.11M

The cost of living in Islamabad is 8% less expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 8870th and 8745th ($442 vs $481) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 47th in Pakistan and Indonesia, respectively. Check Pakistan vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Islamabad compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Islamabad ranked 2nd best city to live in Pakistan vs Medan ranked 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 6313th and 6633rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Islamabad vs Medan infographic

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Prices in Islamabad vs Medan

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

	Islamabad	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.13	$1.97
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$17.7	$12.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.22	$3.31
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$2.39
☕ Cappuccino	$2.08	$2.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.39	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$174
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$94.4	$107
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$514	$469
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$283	$265
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.9	$40.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$62.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.9	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.86%	9.24%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1142	$1337
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$682	$614
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$0.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$6.78	$8.02
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.25	$2.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.93	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.67	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.28	$1.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.57	$8.21
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.52	$3.56
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$6.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$1.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$0.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.44	$0.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.27	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.8	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$2.56	$15.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.59	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.13	$2.26
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.9	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.59	$2.41
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.1	$0.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$0.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$21.2	$23
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.31	$3.48
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$15.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$1.71	$2.73
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.4	$55.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.1	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$64.6	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2961	$10763

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Islamabad

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$382
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$354
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$366
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$273
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$364
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$346
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$379
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$373
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$354
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$458
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$380
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$281
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$287
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$308
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$389
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$321
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$303
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$306
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$411
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$292
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$342
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$383
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$305
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$355
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$366
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$300
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$386
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$358
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$474
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$361
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$356
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$441
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$392
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$389
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$369

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