Medan vs Sharjah - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Sharjah
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$1419
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$3073
🏠 One person rent	$186	$859
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$1432
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$332
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$2246
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	55	66
😀 Quality of life	62	88
🏙️ Population	2.11M	1.25M

The cost of living in Medan is 67% less expensive than in Sharjah. Cities ranked 8825th and 4204th ($466 vs $1419) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 6th in Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, respectively. Check Indonesia vs the United Arab Emirates comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.6 months in Sharjah. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Sharjah ranked 2nd in the United Arab Emirates, while ranked 5663rd and 312th 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 Sharjah infographic

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Prices in Medan vs Sharjah

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

	Medan	Sharjah
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$5.44
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$32.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$8.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$9.56
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$4.13
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.92
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$674
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$578
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$1188
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$1064
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$154
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$234
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$108
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	4.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$10301
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$8167
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$1.63
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$66.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$9.18
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.68
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$1.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$2.02
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$2.73
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$10.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$6.95
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$9.51
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1.99
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.51
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.25
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$1.01
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.41
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$2.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$6.79
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$1.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$6.08
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$4.69
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$2.47
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$2.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$68.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$12.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$46.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$4.69
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$49.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$104
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$260
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$6883

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 Sharjah

Distance	City	Cost of living
10 km or 6.2 mi	Ajman	$2521
13 km or 8 mi	Dubai	$2514
28 km or 17 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
95 km or 59 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
98 km or 61 mi	Fujairah	$1228
133 km or 82 mi	Al Ain	$1449
142 km or 88 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
222 km or 138 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
259 km or 161 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
337 km or 210 mi	Seeb	$1078
346 km or 215 mi	Nizwa	$792
377 km or 235 mi	Muscat	$1081
388 km or 241 mi	Doha	$1849
392 km or 243 mi	Al Khor	$1770
394 km or 245 mi	Jahrom	$530
434 km or 270 mi	Fasa	$529
436 km or 271 mi	Jiroft	$568
456 km or 283 mi	Sirjan	$534
491 km or 305 mi	Manama	$1237
492 km or 306 mi	Riffa	$1201
493 km or 307 mi	Isa Town	$1230
510 km or 317 mi	Bam	$557
526 km or 327 mi	Chabahar	$573
534 km or 332 mi	Dhahran	$908
543 km or 337 mi	Dammam	$1008
550 km or 342 mi	Shiraz	$553
563 km or 350 mi	Marvdasht	$530
564 km or 350 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
564 km or 351 mi	Qatif	$873
566 km or 352 mi	Iranshahr	$624
572 km or 355 mi	Kerman	$761
575 km or 358 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
599 km or 372 mi	Borazjan	$477
600 km or 373 mi	Jubail	$930
600 km or 373 mi	Kazerun	$503
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$453
699 km or 434 mi	Yasuj	$463
709 km or 440 mi	Zahedan	$808
734 km or 456 mi	Yazd	$545
771 km or 479 mi	Behbahan	$483