Medan vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$1627
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$3576
🏠 One person rent	$186	$931
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$1463
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$2496
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	21 km
🎓 Higher education	55	73
😀 Quality of life	62	80
🏙️ Population	2.11M	7.01M

The cost of living in Medan is 71% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 8825th and 3418th ($466 vs $1627) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 1st in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.5 months in Riyadh. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 5663rd and 759th 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 Riyadh infographic

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Prices in Medan vs Riyadh

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

	Medan	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$7.98
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$53.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$8.06
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$1.86
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$4.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.78
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$1007
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$738
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$1807
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$1160
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$64.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$99.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$74.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	5.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$2939
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$2197
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$37.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$0.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$2.46
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$2.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$8.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$10.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$14.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.66
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$1.27
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$9.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$1.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$7.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$2.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$4.67
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$2.36
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$101
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$51.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$7.99
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$58.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$451
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$9818

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 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