Kuala Lumpur vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kuala Lumpur	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$810	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1984	$3629
🏠 One person rent	$393	$944
🏘️ Family rent	$711	$1530
🍽️ Food expenses	$278	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.8	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1392	$2731
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	93	72
😀 Quality of life	77	78
🏙️ Population	1.98M	7.01M

The cost of living in Kuala Lumpur is 51% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 6403rd and 2911th ($810 vs $1637) 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 1.7 months in Kuala Lumpur compared to 1.7 months in Riyadh. Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st best city to live in Malaysia vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 811th and 733rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur vs Riyadh infographic

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

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	$4.17	$9.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$25.4	$53.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.54	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.64	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.93	$4.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$450	$1001
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$297	$748
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$928	$2174
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$548	$1140
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.3	$69.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$61.8	$107
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.4	$75.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.59%	5.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2996	$2485
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1427	$1703
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.69	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.5	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.04	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.49	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.32	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$8.14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.64	$9.75
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.7
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$1.86
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.43	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$2.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.8	$8.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.05	$7.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.45	$2.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.64	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.57	$2.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.19	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.5	$102
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.82	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20	$52.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.65	$7.23
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.9	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$77.6	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$254	$404
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8723	$10598

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529