Medan vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$3952
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$8290
🏠 One person rent	$186	$2795
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$4452
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$775
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$5915
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	55	87
😀 Quality of life	62	93
🏙️ Population	2.11M	1.01M

The cost of living in Medan is 88% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 8825th and 6th ($466 vs $3952) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 4th in Indonesia and the United States, respectively. Check Indonesia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.5 months in San Jose, United States. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs San Jose, United States ranked 21st in the United States, while ranked 5663rd and 88th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Medan vs San Jose, United States infographic

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Prices in Medan vs San Jose, United States

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

	Medan	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$20.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$99.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$9.08
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$5.87
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$3.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$2999
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$2438
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$4520
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$4008
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$175
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$272
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$70
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	6.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$10416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$9325
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$90.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$1.27
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.5
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$5.04
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$5.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$22.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$15.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$23
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$6.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$2.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$5.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$6.69
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$4.3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$3.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$1.88
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$3.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$2.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$176
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$88.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$1874
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$22302

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 San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3424
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3476
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4335
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3356
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3202
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2942
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3426
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3415
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3182
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3765
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3130
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3328
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3133
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3333
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3359
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3045
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3890
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3719
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3382
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3462
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$2955
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3089
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3748
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3553
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3634
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2826
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3070
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2810
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3756
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2957
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3071
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3317
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2850
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3285
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3818
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3230
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3255
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2114
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3227
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3254