Kabul vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Kabul	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$473	$461
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1051	$1179
🏠 One person rent	$200	$185
🏘️ Family rent	$280	$299
🍽️ Food expenses	$163	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$75.2	$34
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$120	$230
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	33	55
😀 Quality of life	25	48
🏙️ Population	5.33M	2.11M

The cost of living in Kabul is 3% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 8823rd and 8850th ($473 vs $461) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 48th 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 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 8992nd and 6907th 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	$2.79	$1.73
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$9.56	$11.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.12	$3.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.79	$1.74
☕ Cappuccino	$1.38	$1.8
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.39	$0.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$108	$169
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$72.2	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$196	$308
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$127	$179
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$35	$43.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.5	$66.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$85.8	$28.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.8%	9.23%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$579	$1205
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$300	$591
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.19	$0.3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.2	$8.11
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.53	$2.58
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$0.75
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.24
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.25	$1.17
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$0.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.57	$1.42
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$7.93
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.05	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.32	$6.63
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$2.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.85	$1.53
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$0.9
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1.42
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.25	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.02	$1.09
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$2.07	$7.62
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.87	$1.56
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.79	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.37	$1.92
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.97	$2.34
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.16	$0.8
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.55	$0.75
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$11.7	$19.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.45	$3.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.6	$14.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.13	$2.66
👖 Brand Jeans	$15.1	$55.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$39.8	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$20.2	$122
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1540	$9091

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	$433
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$368
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$425
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$423
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$429
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$454
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$370
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$369
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$488
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$360
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$464
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$704
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$427
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$457
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$381
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$702
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$735
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$279
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$338
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$463
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$302
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$378
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$264
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$367
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$371
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$348
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$330
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$257
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$353
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$298
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$417
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$318
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$382
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$308
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$379
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$326
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$467

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$458
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$470
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$451
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$485
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$438
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$701
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$572
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$558
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$792
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$740
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$696
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$663
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$551
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$762
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$790
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$634
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$750
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$564
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$831
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$813
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$981
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$664
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$627
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$628
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$678
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$513
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$622
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$736
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$846
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$495
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$788
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1059
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$551
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$808
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$891
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$780
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$588
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$572