Medan vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Medan	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$481	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1335	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$187	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$394	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$189	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.6	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$262	$1598
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	53	63
😀 Quality of life	44	38
🏙️ Population	2.11M	1.27M

The cost of living in Medan is 48% less expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 8745th and 5917th ($481 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 47th and 6th in Indonesia and South Africa, respectively. Check Indonesia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Medan ranked 14th best city to live in Indonesia vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 6633rd and 7204th 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 Soweto infographic

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

Prices in Medan vs Soweto

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

	Medan	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.97	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.8	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.31	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.39	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$2.24	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.45	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$174	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$107	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$469	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$265	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.4	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.2	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.24%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1337	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$614	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.31	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.02	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.8	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.55	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.21	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.98	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.6	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.68	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.26	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.01	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.41	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.83	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.77	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$23	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.48	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.3	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10763	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$993
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$837
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$953
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$672
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$785
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$807
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$678
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$906
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$820
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$889
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$784
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$768
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$795
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$748
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$780
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$665
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$691
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$664
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$628
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$562
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$763
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$621
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$442
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$567
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$814
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$540
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$583
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$964
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1068
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$809
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$624
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003