Medan vs Saint Petersburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Medan	Saint Petersburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$453	$1139
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1141	$2793
🏠 One person rent	$189	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$310	$1013
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$32.3	$160
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$216	$1316
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	55	85
😀 Quality of life	47	71
🏙️ Population	2.11M	5.65M

The cost of living in Medan is 60% less expensive than in Saint Petersburg. Cities ranked 8852nd and 4898th ($453 vs $1139) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 44th and 5th in Indonesia and Russia, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Russia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.2 months in Saint Petersburg. Medan ranked 15th best city to live in Indonesia vs Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd in Russia, while ranked 6943rd and 3542nd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Medan vs Saint Petersburg

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

	Medan	Saint Petersburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.64	$9.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.7	$33.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.06	$6.37
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.01	$2.62
☕ Cappuccino	$1.7	$3.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.37	$1.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$109	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$311	$1362
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$196	$765
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.2	$78.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$67.1	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$24	$8.01
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.17%	20.67%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1152	$4926
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$558	$3068
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.28	$1.17
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$6.85	$47.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.7	$11.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.7	$0.89
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.11	$0.86
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.32	$1.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.98	$12
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$5.69
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.36	$12.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.44	$1.84
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.96
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.85	$3.21
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$0.74
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$0.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.3	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.01	$1.69
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.72	$8.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.81	$1.22
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.56	$3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.79	$1.91
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.16	$1.43
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.74	$1.26
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.7	$1.38
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$17.9	$40.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.24	$6.09
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13.1	$17.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.48	$4.25
👖 Brand Jeans	$47.2	$94.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.2	$132
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$114	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7769	$13865

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	$449
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$439
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$555
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$530
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$762
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$720
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$677
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$527
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$743
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$616
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$741
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$545
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$798
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$654
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$610
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$592
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$617
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$488
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$588
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$707
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$466
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$759
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1010
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$784
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$836
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$737
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$576
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550

Cities near Saint Petersburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
135 km or 84 mi	Narva	$1081
156 km or 97 mi	Sillamae	$1079
162 km or 101 mi	Imatra	$1467
168 km or 104 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$766
170 km or 105 mi	Lappeenranta	$1448
181 km or 112 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1104
185 km or 115 mi	Hamina	$1490
195 km or 121 mi	Kotka	$1478
223 km or 139 mi	Kouvola	$1383
227 km or 141 mi	Savonlinna	$1312
232 km or 144 mi	Rakvere	$1085
254 km or 158 mi	Mikkeli	$1445
262 km or 163 mi	Porvoo	$1521
263 km or 164 mi	Pskov	$758
269 km or 167 mi	Tartu	$1220
280 km or 174 mi	Lahti	$1533
293 km or 182 mi	Kerava	$1673
294 km or 183 mi	Varkaus	$1428
294 km or 183 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1759
295 km or 183 mi	Vantaa	$1843
296 km or 184 mi	Joensuu	$1550
297 km or 184 mi	Tuusula	$1698
299 km or 186 mi	Petrozavodsk	$834
300 km or 186 mi	Helsinki	$1970
302 km or 188 mi	Maardu	$1455
310 km or 192 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1644
310 km or 193 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1531
315 km or 196 mi	Espoo	$1974
317 km or 197 mi	Riihimaki	$1419
318 km or 197 mi	Tallinn	$1594
322 km or 200 mi	Viljandi	$1054
328 km or 204 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1684
342 km or 213 mi	Hameenlinna	$1436
348 km or 216 mi	Lohja	$1391
349 km or 217 mi	Jamsa	$1492
354 km or 220 mi	Jyvaskyla	$1403
356 km or 221 mi	Kuopio	$1525
373 km or 232 mi	Valkeakoski	$1578
374 km or 233 mi	Parnu	$1179
383 km or 238 mi	Raseborg	$1597