Kuala Lumpur vs Los Angeles - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kuala Lumpur	Los Angeles
🚶 Cost of living one person	$810	$3196
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1984	$7594
🏠 One person rent	$393	$2049
🏘️ Family rent	$711	$3732
🍽️ Food expenses	$278	$709
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.8	$220
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1392	$4771
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	93	99
😀 Quality of life	77	93
🏙️ Population	1.98M	3.9M

The cost of living in Kuala Lumpur is 75% less expensive than in Los Angeles. Cities ranked 6403rd and 80th ($810 vs $3196) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 71st in Malaysia and the United States, respectively. Check Malaysia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Kuala Lumpur compared to 1.5 months in Los Angeles. Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st best city to live in Malaysia vs Los Angeles ranked 7th in the United States, while ranked 811th and 58th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur vs Los Angeles infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/kuala-lumpur/los-angeles.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur vs Los Angeles infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/kuala-lumpur/los-angeles" target="_blank">Kuala Lumpur vs Los Angeles - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Kuala Lumpur vs Los Angeles

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

	Kuala Lumpur	Los Angeles
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.17	$21.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$25.4	$87.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.54	$12.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.64	$8.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.93	$5.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$2.7
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$450	$2168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$297	$1758
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$928	$4056
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$548	$3293
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.3	$142
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$61.8	$220
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.4	$66.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.59%	6.74%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2996	$8056
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1427	$7115
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.69	$2.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.5	$73.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.04	$16.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.49	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.29
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$4.1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$4.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.32	$6.05
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$12.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.64	$14.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9	$17.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$5.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$2.43
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$4.31
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$2.63
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$2.62
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.43	$1.56
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.8	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.05	$11.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.45	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.64	$7
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.57	$5.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.19	$2.63
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.5	$49.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.82	$18.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20	$190
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.65	$27.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.9	$60.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$77.6	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$254	$1650
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8723	$28838

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kuala Lumpur

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.7 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
15 km or 9.1 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
19 km or 12 mi	Shah Alam	$645
24 km or 15 mi	Putrajaya	$532
25 km or 16 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
30 km or 19 mi	Klang	$670
54 km or 33 mi	Seremban	$604
123 km or 77 mi	Malacca	$669
124 km or 77 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
155 km or 97 mi	Muar	$682
167 km or 104 mi	Dumai	$543
176 km or 109 mi	Ipoh	$628
196 km or 122 mi	Kuantan	$529
199 km or 124 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
211 km or 131 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
217 km or 135 mi	Taiping	$695
219 km or 136 mi	Kluang	$679
229 km or 142 mi	Chukai	$565
282 km or 175 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
291 km or 181 mi	Butterworth	$619
291 km or 181 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
292 km or 181 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
293 km or 182 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
294 km or 183 mi	George Town	$620
297 km or 184 mi	Johor Bahru	$759
309 km or 192 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
311 km or 193 mi	Singapore City	$3059
315 km or 195 mi	Bukit Merah	$2788
335 km or 208 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
338 km or 210 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
341 km or 212 mi	Medan	$481
346 km or 215 mi	Batam	$539
360 km or 224 mi	Binjai	$470
361 km or 225 mi	Alor Setar	$490
394 km or 245 mi	Tanjung Pinang	$506
402 km or 250 mi	Kangar	$536
413 km or 257 mi	Langkawi	$560
441 km or 274 mi	Langsa	$461
451 km or 280 mi	Hat Yai	$570
457 km or 284 mi	Ko Lipe	$719

Cities near Los Angeles

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Huntington Park	$2887
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2803
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2873
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2798
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2735
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$2936
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$2902
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2768
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$3061
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2727
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$3105
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2739
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2786
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3659
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$3014
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2903
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2788
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2780
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$3033
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3416
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2750
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3370
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2735
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2851
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3086
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$3104
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2824
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2787
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2750
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2720
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$3022
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2775
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3162
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$2758
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2669
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2662
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3573
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2789
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3256
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$2919