Kuala Lumpur vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kuala Lumpur	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$866	$1627
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2078	$3576
🏠 One person rent	$415	$931
🏘️ Family rent	$706	$1463
🍽️ Food expenses	$295	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$74	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1175	$2496
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	21 km
🎓 Higher education	93	73
😀 Quality of life	78	80
🏙️ Population	1.98M	7.01M

The cost of living in Kuala Lumpur is 47% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 6384th and 3418th ($866 vs $1627) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check Malaysia vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Kuala Lumpur compared to 1.5 months in Riyadh. Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st best city to live in Malaysia vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 985th and 759th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur vs Riyadh infographic

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Prices in Kuala Lumpur vs Riyadh

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

	Kuala Lumpur	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.41	$7.98
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.8	$53.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.77	$8.06
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.73	$1.86
☕ Cappuccino	$3.11	$4.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.88	$0.78
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$522	$1007
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$311	$738
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$927	$1807
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$550	$1160
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$36	$64.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$55.1	$99.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.7	$74.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.46%	5.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3056	$2939
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1519	$2197
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.7	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$16.2	$37.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.83	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.53	$0.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.04	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$2.46
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.47	$2.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14	$8.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.97	$10.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.52	$14.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.13	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.66
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$1.27
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.46	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.26	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17.5	$9.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.22	$1.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.3	$7.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.73	$2.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.59	$4.67
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.76	$2.36
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.29	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$46.7	$101
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.79	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$21	$51.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.58	$7.99
👖 Brand Jeans	$62.4	$58.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$267	$451
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9002	$9818

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	$731
15 km or 9.1 mi	Subang Jaya	$789
19 km or 12 mi	Shah Alam	$681
24 km or 15 mi	Putrajaya	$584
25 km or 16 mi	Cyberjaya	$609
30 km or 19 mi	Klang	$704
54 km or 33 mi	Seremban	$643
123 km or 77 mi	Malacca	$689
124 km or 77 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
155 km or 97 mi	Muar	$771
167 km or 104 mi	Dumai	$519
176 km or 109 mi	Ipoh	$657
196 km or 122 mi	Kuantan	$552
199 km or 124 mi	Batu Pahat	$788
211 km or 131 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
217 km or 135 mi	Taiping	$552
219 km or 136 mi	Kluang	$771
229 km or 142 mi	Chukai	$598
282 km or 175 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
291 km or 181 mi	Butterworth	$701
291 km or 181 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534
292 km or 181 mi	Pekanbaru	$503
293 km or 182 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
294 km or 183 mi	George Town	$754
297 km or 184 mi	Johor Bahru	$789
309 km or 192 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
311 km or 193 mi	Singapore City	$3201
315 km or 195 mi	Bukit Merah	$2909
335 km or 208 mi	Padangsidempuan	$563
338 km or 210 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
341 km or 212 mi	Medan	$466
346 km or 215 mi	Batam	$542
360 km or 224 mi	Binjai	$460
361 km or 225 mi	Alor Setar	$509
394 km or 245 mi	Tanjung Pinang	$502
402 km or 250 mi	Kangar	$570
413 km or 257 mi	Langkawi	$592
441 km or 274 mi	Langsa	$449
451 km or 280 mi	Hat Yai	$592
457 km or 284 mi	Ko Lipe	$756

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$967
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$862
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$908
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1008
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$930
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$873
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1201
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1230
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1008
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1849
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1770
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1454
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$825
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$726
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$730
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$453
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$719
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$549
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$889
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$542
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$918
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$477
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$521
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$669
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1182
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$503
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$483
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$583
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$571
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1162
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$553
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$681
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$903
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$530
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$463