Kabul vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$466
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$1207
🏠 One person rent	$195	$186
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$296
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$170
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$35.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$223
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	30	55
😀 Quality of life	33	62
🏙️ Population	4.27M	2.11M

The cost of living in Kabul is 2% less expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 8842nd and 8825th ($458 vs $466) 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 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Medan ranked 7th in Indonesia, while ranked 8609th and 5663rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kabul vs Medan infographic

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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	$2.45	$1.81
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$10.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$3.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$1.51
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$1.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$172
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$86.9
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$312
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$156
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$48.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$75.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$32.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	9.2%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$1333
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$604
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$9.61
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$2.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$0.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$1.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$0.83
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$1.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$9.38
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$3.74
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$6.83
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$2.23
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$0.89
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$0.7
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$1.25
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$1.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$6.66
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$1.34
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$2.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$1.98
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$2.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$0.81
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$0.76
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$22.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$3.44
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$14
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$2.72
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$64.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$114
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$10637

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	$401
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$354
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$396
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$393
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$334
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$364
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$428
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$354
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$351
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$344
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$443
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$432
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$376
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$712
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$277
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$436
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$294
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$372
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$265
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$351
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$363
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$333
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$320
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$340
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$291
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$403
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$303
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$302
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$362
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$311
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$316
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$439

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$460
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$449
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$423
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$552
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$563
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$754
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$701
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$657
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$554
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$704
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$756
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$592
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$681
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$509
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$789
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$731
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$866
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$609
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$584
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$570
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$643
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$519
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$592
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$386
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$689
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$807
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$503
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$771
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1014
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$773
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$854
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$788
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$552
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534