Kabul vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Kabul	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$504	$453
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1114	$1141
🏠 One person rent	$211	$189
🏘️ Family rent	$298	$310
🍽️ Food expenses	$177	$170
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.4	$32.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$146	$216
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	33	55
😀 Quality of life	26	47
🏙️ Population	5.33M	2.11M

The cost of living in Kabul is 11% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 8650th and 8852nd ($504 vs $453) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 44th in Afghanistan and Indonesia, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Kabul compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Medan ranked 15th in Indonesia, while ranked 8929th and 6943rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Kabul vs Medan

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

	Kabul	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.18	$1.64
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$8.5	$10.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.85	$3.06
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.24	$2.01
☕ Cappuccino	$1.6	$1.7
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$126	$173
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$83.1	$109
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$223	$311
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$145	$196
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$31.7	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$49.5	$67.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88.2	$24
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.73%	9.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$664	$1152
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$346	$558
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.16	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.2	$6.85
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.58	$2.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.03	$0.7
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.28	$1.11
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$0.89
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.61	$1.32
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$6.98
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.61	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.58	$6.36
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$2.44
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$1.03
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$0.85
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.52	$0.8
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.48	$1.62
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.26	$0.3
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.05	$1.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$2.37	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.01	$1.81
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.78	$2.56
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.49	$1.79
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.19	$2.16
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.2	$0.74
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.61	$0.7
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$13.3	$17.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.54	$3.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14.1	$13.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.29	$2.48
👖 Brand Jeans	$17.5	$47.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$45.8	$96.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$20.9	$114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1302	$7769

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$456
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$381
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$447
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$438
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$447
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$321
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$394
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$468
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$373
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$373
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$493
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$371
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$496
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$734
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$446
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$470
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$391
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$737
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$773
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$280
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$350
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$473
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$306
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$393
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$253
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$379
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$382
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$359
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$335
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$278
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$344
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$303
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$440
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$339
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$309
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$401
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$313
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$396
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$332
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$469

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$449
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$439
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$555
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$530
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$762
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$720
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$677
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$527
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$743
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$616
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$741
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$545
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$798
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$654
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$610
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$592
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$617
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$488
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$588
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$707
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$466
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$759
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1010
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$784
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$836
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$737
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$576
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550