Medan vs Surat - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Surat
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$705
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$990
🏠 One person rent	$186	$458
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$305
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$161
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$45.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$271
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	55	40
😀 Quality of life	62	55
🏙️ Population	2.11M	5.94M

The cost of living in Medan is 34% less expensive than in Surat. Cities ranked 8825th and 7068th ($466 vs $705) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 2nd in Indonesia and India, respectively. Check Indonesia vs India comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 0.4 months in Surat. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Surat ranked 45th in India, while ranked 5663rd and 6284th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Medan vs Surat infographic

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Prices in Medan vs Surat

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

	Medan	Surat
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$3.24
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$11.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$3.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$3.41
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$215
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$484
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$390
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$234
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$20.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$31.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$7.65
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	9.18%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$822
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$576
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$0.23
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$5.63
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$2.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$0.58
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$0.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$0.99
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$4.66
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$2.87
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$8.04
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1.65
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$0.79
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$0.64
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$0.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$0.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$0.96
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$8.27
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$2.51
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$3.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$3.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$0.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$0.58
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$18.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$3.09
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$14.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$2.36
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$24.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$42.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$59.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$922

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 Surat

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Navsari	$278
98 km or 61 mi	Bhavnagar	$291
131 km or 82 mi	Vadodara	$374
164 km or 102 mi	Nashik	$350
170 km or 106 mi	Nadiad	$375
189 km or 117 mi	Vasai	$267
192 km or 119 mi	Malegaon	$382
196 km or 122 mi	Godhra	$366
208 km or 130 mi	Ahmedabad	$442
209 km or 130 mi	Bhiwandi	$363
216 km or 134 mi	Kalyan	$399
222 km or 138 mi	Thane	$487
228 km or 142 mi	Gandhinagar	$407
239 km or 148 mi	Navi Mumbai	$503
244 km or 152 mi	Rajkot	$324
245 km or 152 mi	Mumbai	$705
274 km or 170 mi	Mehsana	$382
284 km or 177 mi	Jalgaon	$303
296 km or 184 mi	Aurangabad	$349
314 km or 195 mi	Pune	$517
332 km or 206 mi	Ratlam	$303
338 km or 210 mi	Porbandar	$330
356 km or 221 mi	Indore	$361
377 km or 234 mi	Ujjain	$264
389 km or 242 mi	Udaipur	$315
399 km or 248 mi	Bhuj	$290
406 km or 252 mi	Satara	$273
436 km or 271 mi	Akola	$297
499 km or 310 mi	Latur	$396
500 km or 311 mi	Bhilwara	$328
505 km or 314 mi	Solapur	$285
511 km or 318 mi	Amravati	$310
512 km or 318 mi	Sangli	$290
514 km or 320 mi	Pali	$305
518 km or 322 mi	Kolhapur	$309
521 km or 324 mi	Nanded	$328
526 km or 327 mi	Bhopal	$366
526 km or 327 mi	Ichalkaranji	$302
541 km or 336 mi	Kota	$333
570 km or 354 mi	Bijapur	$333