Medan vs Mogadishu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Mogadishu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$715
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$1661
🏠 One person rent	$186	$263
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$252
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$67.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$112
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	55	25
😀 Quality of life	62	15
🏙️ Population	2.11M	2.12M

The cost of living in Medan is 35% less expensive than in Mogadishu. Cities ranked 8825th and 7013th ($466 vs $715) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 2nd in Indonesia and Somalia, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Somalia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 0.2 months in Mogadishu. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Mogadishu ranked 2nd in Somalia, while ranked 5663rd and 9189th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Medan vs Mogadishu infographic

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

Prices in Medan vs Mogadishu

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

	Medan	Mogadishu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$3.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$53.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$4.52
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$4.03
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$1.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.5
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$142
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$78.1
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$259
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$143
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$161
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	8.02%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$4802
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$9000
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$0.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$19.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$5.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$1.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$0.8
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$5.03
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$3.66
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$4.48
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$3.74
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$0.99
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$2.74
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.28
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$1.22
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$1.08
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$3.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$1.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$1.21
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$3.08
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$2.77
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$1.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$1.19
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$31.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$26.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$15
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$51.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$17.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$26.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$50.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$575

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$460
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$449
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$423
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$552
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$563
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$754
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$701
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$657
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$554
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$704
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$756
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$592
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$681
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$509
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$789
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$731
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$866
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$609
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$584
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$570
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$643
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$519
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$592
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$386
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$689
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$807
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$503
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$771
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1014
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$773
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$854
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$788
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$552
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534

Cities near Mogadishu

Distance	City	Cost of living
223 km or 138 mi	Baidoa	$724
824 km or 512 mi	Malindi	$548
849 km or 527 mi	Hargeisa	$694
860 km or 534 mi	Jijiga	$1169
883 km or 549 mi	Harar	$1175
883 km or 549 mi	Meru	$549
909 km or 565 mi	Borama	$502
923 km or 573 mi	Dire Dawa	$1175
925 km or 575 mi	Mombasa	$596
944 km or 586 mi	Awasa	$1031
980 km or 609 mi	Thika	$460
981 km or 610 mi	Machakos	$420
1017 km or 632 mi	Nairobi	$811
1051 km or 653 mi	Tanga	$552
1054 km or 655 mi	Ali Sabieh	$557
1060 km or 659 mi	Dikhil	$559
1063 km or 661 mi	Nakuru	$503
1066 km or 663 mi	Addis Ababa	$1289
1072 km or 666 mi	Moshi	$533
1090 km or 677 mi	Djibouti City	$586
1127 km or 700 mi	Obock	$560
1131 km or 703 mi	Eldoret	$528
1131 km or 703 mi	Jimma	$802
1135 km or 705 mi	Arusha	$612
1139 km or 708 mi	Stone Town	$567
1139 km or 708 mi	Zanzibar	$609
1191 km or 740 mi	Dar es Salaam	$799
1191 km or 740 mi	Dessie	$1039
1197 km or 744 mi	Aden	$517
1201 km or 747 mi	Kisumu	$543
1222 km or 759 mi	Mumias	$511
1246 km or 774 mi	Mbale	$654
1250 km or 777 mi	Tororo	$623
1291 km or 802 mi	Taiz	$522
1303 km or 810 mi	Morogoro	$421
1332 km or 828 mi	Ibb	$512
1346 km or 836 mi	Victoria	$1585
1361 km or 846 mi	Jinja	$582
1370 km or 851 mi	Zabid	$499
1377 km or 855 mi	Bahir Dar	$864