Medan vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Medan	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$481	$2539
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1335	$6160
🏠 One person rent	$187	$1496
🏘️ Family rent	$394	$2729
🍽️ Food expenses	$189	$522
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.6	$374
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$262	$4315
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	53	100
😀 Quality of life	44	100
🏙️ Population	2.11M	4.84M

The cost of living in Medan is 81% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 8745th and 745th ($481 vs $2539) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 47th and 1st in Indonesia and Australia, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.7 months in Sydney. Medan ranked 14th best city to live in Indonesia vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 6633rd and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Medan vs Sydney infographic

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

Prices in Medan vs Sydney

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

	Medan	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.97	$13.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.8	$66
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.31	$9.73
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.39	$7.29
☕ Cappuccino	$2.24	$3.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.45	$2.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$174	$1823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$107	$1225
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$469	$3607
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$265	$2246
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.4	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.2	$165
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$45.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.24%	6.4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1337	$13272
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$614	$7795
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.31	$3.19
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.02	$133
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.8	$26.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$1.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$2.26
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.55	$4.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.21	$10.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$8.32
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.98	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$3.11
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$2.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$3.13
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$3.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$2.34
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$2.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.87
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$2.41
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.6	$13.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.68	$4.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.26	$28.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.01	$6.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.41	$5.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.83	$2.66
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.77	$2.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$23	$55.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.48	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$58.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$20.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.3	$80.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$1992
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10763	$17957

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 Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2099
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2252
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$1824
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1584
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1416
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1448
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1538
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1616
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1511
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2023
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1702
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1681
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1185
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1457
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1963
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1619
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1601
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$1781
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1727
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2239
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2067
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1654
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1643
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1291
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1504
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1645
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1677
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1600
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1620
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2194
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1691
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1671
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1669
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2016
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1625
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1635
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1748
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$1981
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1390
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1683