Male vs Pyongyang - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Male	Pyongyang
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1320	$1659
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2817	$3633
🏠 One person rent	$818	$946
🏘️ Family rent	$1403	$1645
🍽️ Food expenses	$368	$492
🚐 Transport expenses	$43.1	$168
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$988	$138
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	7	19
😀 Quality of life	66	23
🏙️ Population	133K	2.86M

The cost of living in Male is 20% less expensive than in Pyongyang. Cities ranked 4439th and 3285th ($1320 vs $1659) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Maldives and North Korea, respectively. Check Maldives vs North Korea comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Male compared to 0.1 months in Pyongyang. Male ranked 1st best city to live in Maldives vs Pyongyang ranked 1st in North Korea, while ranked 5057th and 9031st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Male vs Pyongyang 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/male/pyongyang.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Male vs Pyongyang infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/male/pyongyang" target="_blank">Male vs Pyongyang - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Male vs Pyongyang

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

	Male	Pyongyang
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.55	$8.36
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.4	$111
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.82	$5
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.77	$1.93
☕ Cappuccino	$3.29	$1.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.45	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$870	$881
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$609	$793
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1575	$1575
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1116	$1439
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$80.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$125
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$81.2	$54.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14%	12.74%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2585	$1667
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1897	$992
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.65	$0.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.1	$47.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.5	$19.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$0.88
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$2.51
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$2.64
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$2.65
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.78	$2.52
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.08	$9.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.15	$17.9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.98	$6.87
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$3.11
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.83	$1.17
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.35	$1.59
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$6.98
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$0.99
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$0.32
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.97	$2.18
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.87	$7.01
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.96	$2.69
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13	$2.78
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.39	$3.08
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.83	$2.86
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.18	$1.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.81	$4.38
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$80.1	$25
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.82	$4.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$23.2	$16.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.39	$3.97
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$28.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.5	$63.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$166	$98.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3575	$3611

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1445
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$344
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$308
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$279
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$253
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$270
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$300
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$382
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$351
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$590
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$646
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$356
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$626
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$512
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$469
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$420
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$479
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$286
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$347
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$321
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$310
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$326
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$440
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$317
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$535
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$347
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$286
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$275
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$346
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$295
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$400
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$530
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$283
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$524
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$300
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$355
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$340
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$327

Cities near Pyongyang

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Pyongsong	$1550
44 km or 27 mi	Nampo	$1565
46 km or 29 mi	Sunchon	$1573
59 km or 36 mi	Sariwon	$1560
65 km or 41 mi	Anju	$1563
76 km or 47 mi	Kaechon	$1569
77 km or 48 mi	Chongju	$1553
95 km or 59 mi	Tokchon	$1555
111 km or 69 mi	Haeju	$1565
115 km or 71 mi	Kusong	$1544
135 km or 84 mi	Huichon	$1544
138 km or 86 mi	Kaesong	$1568
149 km or 92 mi	Wonsan	$1569
163 km or 102 mi	Paju	$1065
165 km or 102 mi	Sinuiju	$1564
165 km or 103 mi	Donggang	$537
167 km or 104 mi	Dandong	$550
170 km or 106 mi	Dongducheon	$1023
178 km or 111 mi	Gimpo	$1098
180 km or 112 mi	Yangju	$948
180 km or 112 mi	Pocheon	$1028
181 km or 112 mi	Goyang	$1097
183 km or 113 mi	Uijeongbu	$918
184 km or 114 mi	Hamhung	$1607
192 km or 119 mi	Incheon	$1088
193 km or 120 mi	Bucheon	$1175
195 km or 121 mi	Seoul	$1383
199 km or 124 mi	Gwangmyeong	$1090
202 km or 125 mi	Guri	$1134
202 km or 125 mi	Namyangju	$1138
209 km or 130 mi	Gwacheon	$1078
210 km or 130 mi	Anyang	$1004
210 km or 131 mi	Hanam	$1178
212 km or 132 mi	Ansan	$1049
213 km or 132 mi	Fengcheng	$517
213 km or 133 mi	Gunpo	$1112
215 km or 134 mi	Seongnam	$1435
216 km or 134 mi	Uiwang	$1080
216 km or 134 mi	Siheung	$1307
217 km or 135 mi	Chuncheon	$874