Medan vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Medan	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$481	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1335	$2694
🏠 One person rent	$187	$478
🏘️ Family rent	$394	$1142
🍽️ Food expenses	$189	$261
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.6	$85.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$262	$1771
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	53	96
😀 Quality of life	44	80
🏙️ Population	2.11M	17.7M

The cost of living in Medan is 47% less expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 8745th and 5950th ($481 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 47th and 12th in Indonesia and China, respectively. Check Indonesia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.9 months in Shenzhen. Medan ranked 14th best city to live in Indonesia vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 6633rd and 545th 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 Shenzhen infographic

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

Prices in Medan vs Shenzhen

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

	Medan	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.97	$3.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.8	$27.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.31	$5.23
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.39	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$2.24	$3.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.45	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$174	$667
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$107	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$469	$1650
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$265	$917
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.4	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.2	$65.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$13.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.24%	4.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1337	$12583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$614	$6551
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.31	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.02	$23.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.8	$4.51
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.55	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.21	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$4.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.98	$13.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.6	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.68	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.26	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.01	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.41	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.83	$1.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.77	$1.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$23	$48.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.48	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$33.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$9.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$78
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10763	$22267

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	$470
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$461
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$695
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$620
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$619
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$628
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$571
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$670
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$560
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$645
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$490
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$532
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$536
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$604
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$543
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$570
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$669
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$682
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$940
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$792
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$782
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$529
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501

Cities near Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2432
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$653
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$656
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1588
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$461
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$601
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$804
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$774
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$611
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$936
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$812
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$764
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$794
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$823
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$877
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$569
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$443
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$581
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$655
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$451
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$803
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$755
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$758
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$761
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$756
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$761
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$724
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$771
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$649
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$702
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$688
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$650
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$823
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$522
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$609