Medan vs Rawalpindi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Rawalpindi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$416
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$962
🏠 One person rent	$186	$164
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$264
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$160
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$42.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$156
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	23 km
🎓 Higher education	55	68
😀 Quality of life	62	50
🏙️ Population	2.11M	2.1M

The cost of living in Medan is 12% more expensive than in Rawalpindi. Cities ranked 8825th and 8945th ($466 vs $416) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 4th in Indonesia and Pakistan, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 0.4 months in Rawalpindi. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Rawalpindi ranked 2nd in Pakistan, while ranked 5663rd and 6592nd 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 Rawalpindi infographic

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Prices in Medan vs Rawalpindi

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

	Medan	Rawalpindi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$1.77
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$15
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$5.24
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$1.78
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$1.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$138
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$63.9
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$249
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$114
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$68
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$105
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$17.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	21.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$960
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$464
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$0.18
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$9.74
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$3.67
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$0.93
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.86
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$0.53
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.26
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$1.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$6.21
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$3.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$4.67
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$0.66
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$0.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$0.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$0.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$0.51
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.26
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$0.76
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$15.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$1.11
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$1.96
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$0.94
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$1.24
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$0.77
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$0.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$8.86
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$3.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$11.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$2.11
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$12.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$90.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$43.5
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$764

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 Rawalpindi

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Islamabad	$443
40 km or 25 mi	Wah	$344
82 km or 51 mi	Mirpur	$277
116 km or 72 mi	Mardan	$354
120 km or 75 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
135 km or 84 mi	Baramulla	$265
146 km or 90 mi	Mingora	$351
148 km or 92 mi	Gujrat	$320
151 km or 94 mi	Kohat	$364
152 km or 94 mi	Peshawar	$334
170 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$340
173 km or 107 mi	Sargodha	$376
180 km or 112 mi	Hafizabad	$363
183 km or 114 mi	Sialkot	$311
192 km or 119 mi	Jammu	$284
192 km or 119 mi	Gujranwala	$302
210 km or 130 mi	Chiniot	$372
211 km or 131 mi	Kamoke	$316
228 km or 142 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
243 km or 151 mi	Faisalabad	$333
257 km or 160 mi	Lahore	$427
258 km or 160 mi	Jalalabad	$354
269 km or 167 mi	Jhang	$294
275 km or 171 mi	Gojra	$351
276 km or 172 mi	Sahiwal	$303
277 km or 172 mi	Amritsar	$380
283 km or 176 mi	Pathankot	$350
294 km or 183 mi	Khost	$393
312 km or 194 mi	Okara	$291
346 km or 215 mi	Jalandhar	$337
355 km or 221 mi	Gardez	$401
374 km or 232 mi	Kabul	$458
382 km or 238 mi	Khanewal	$362
385 km or 239 mi	Burewala	$347
397 km or 247 mi	Ludhiana	$421
409 km or 254 mi	Multan	$403
430 km or 267 mi	Ghazni	$396
457 km or 284 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
474 km or 294 mi	Chandigarh	$373
475 km or 295 mi	Shimla	$270