Kathmandu vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kathmandu	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$419	$481
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1077	$1335
🏠 One person rent	$131	$187
🏘️ Family rent	$240	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$181	$189
🚐 Transport expenses	$62.2	$35.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$238	$262
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	2 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	28	53
😀 Quality of life	46	44
🏙️ Population	846K	2.11M

The cost of living in Kathmandu is 13% less expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 8918th and 8745th ($419 vs $481) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 47th in Nepal and Indonesia, respectively. Check Nepal vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Kathmandu compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Kathmandu ranked 1st best city to live in Nepal vs Medan ranked 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 6495th and 6633rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kathmandu vs Medan infographic

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Prices in Kathmandu vs Medan

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

	Kathmandu	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.44	$1.97
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.8	$12.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.47	$3.31
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.57	$2.39
☕ Cappuccino	$1.81	$2.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.48	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$162	$174
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$84.7	$107
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$296	$469
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$173	$265
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.6	$40.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$32.8	$62.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.58	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.88%	9.24%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2191	$1337
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1059	$614
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.9	$8.02
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.8	$2.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.82	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.55	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.9	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.62	$1.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.84	$8.21
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.13	$3.56
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.67	$6.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.76	$0.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.51	$0.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.67	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.17	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.76	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.27	$15.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.87	$2.26
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.24	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.53	$2.41
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.92	$0.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$0.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.5	$23
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.22	$3.48
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$15.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.77	$2.73
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.8	$55.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$53.2	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$85.2	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3409	$10763

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$341
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$294
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$321
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$292
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$391
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$300
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$316
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$292
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$317
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$300
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$312
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$299
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$297
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$308
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$309
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$900
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$329
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$459
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$308
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$296
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$422
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$314
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$307
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$296
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$366
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$300
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$299
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$384
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$375
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$304
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$292
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$370
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$280
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$315
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$361

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