Kuala Lumpur vs Male - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Kuala Lumpur	Male
🚶 Cost of living one person	$892	$1295
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2135	$3008
🏠 One person rent	$450	$809
🏘️ Family rent	$787	$1621
🍽️ Food expenses	$295	$347
🚐 Transport expenses	$69.6	$40.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1450	$1018
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	93	7
😀 Quality of life	76	61
🏙️ Population	1.98M	133K

The cost of living in Kuala Lumpur is 31% less expensive than in Male. Cities ranked 6160th and 4342nd ($892 vs $1295) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Malaysia and Maldives, respectively. Check Malaysia vs Maldives comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Kuala Lumpur compared to 0.8 months in Male. Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st best city to live in Malaysia vs Male ranked 1st in Maldives, while ranked 883rd and 5145th 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 Male 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/male.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur vs Male infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/kuala-lumpur/male" target="_blank">Kuala Lumpur vs Male - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Kuala Lumpur vs Male

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

	Kuala Lumpur	Male
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.35	$5.57
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27.4	$29.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.78	$9.83
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.99	$3.95
☕ Cappuccino	$3.17	$2.87
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.85	$1.11
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$495	$851
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$343	$582
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1006	$1573
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$604	$1368
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.4	$74
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$114
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27.7	$98.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.53%	13.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3145	$2675
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1425	$1944
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.72	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.4	$22.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.79	$17.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.51	$0.96
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.05	$1.77
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.02	$1.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.14
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.5	$1.64
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.7	$9.02
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.14	$5.53
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$8.66
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$4.17
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$3.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.88	$3.88
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$3.48
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.2
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.46	$0.3
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.2	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17.6	$8.81
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.2	$2.15
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.31	$7.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.47	$5.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.34	$3.82
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.46	$3.18
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.21	$1.84
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$46.4	$80.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.89	$8.27
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20	$22.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.4	$4.33
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.8	$56.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$80.1	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$259	$170
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9485	$3225

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	$738
15 km or 9.1 mi	Subang Jaya	$732
19 km or 12 mi	Shah Alam	$687
24 km or 15 mi	Putrajaya	$571
25 km or 16 mi	Cyberjaya	$617
30 km or 19 mi	Klang	$729
54 km or 33 mi	Seremban	$630
123 km or 77 mi	Malacca	$699
124 km or 77 mi	Teluk Intan	$673
155 km or 97 mi	Muar	$752
167 km or 104 mi	Dumai	$585
176 km or 109 mi	Ipoh	$670
196 km or 122 mi	Kuantan	$518
199 km or 124 mi	Batu Pahat	$750
211 km or 131 mi	Tanjungbalai	$538
217 km or 135 mi	Taiping	$759
219 km or 136 mi	Kluang	$745
229 km or 142 mi	Chukai	$579
282 km or 175 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$504
291 km or 181 mi	Butterworth	$671
291 km or 181 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$544
292 km or 181 mi	Pekanbaru	$590
293 km or 182 mi	Pematangsiantar	$518
294 km or 183 mi	George Town	$669
297 km or 184 mi	Johor Bahru	$709
309 km or 192 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
311 km or 193 mi	Singapore City	$3168
315 km or 195 mi	Bukit Merah	$2852
335 km or 208 mi	Padangsidempuan	$624
338 km or 210 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
341 km or 212 mi	Medan	$519
346 km or 215 mi	Batam	$604
360 km or 224 mi	Binjai	$503
361 km or 225 mi	Alor Setar	$523
394 km or 245 mi	Tanjung Pinang	$549
402 km or 250 mi	Kangar	$563
413 km or 257 mi	Langkawi	$594
441 km or 274 mi	Langsa	$490
451 km or 280 mi	Hat Yai	$561
457 km or 284 mi	Ko Lipe	$742

Cities near Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1515
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$370
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$331
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$289
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$250
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$280
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$316
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$394
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$368
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$306
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$549
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$636
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$298
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$492
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$484
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$437
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$428
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$499
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$287
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$355
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$350
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$334
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$340
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$435
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$304
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$561
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$306
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$338
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$324
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$289
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$325
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$330
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$433
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$534
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$298
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$578
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$310
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$378
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$346
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$352