Medan vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$2640
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$6276
🏠 One person rent	$186	$1578
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$2764
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$549
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$366
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$4008
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	55	99
😀 Quality of life	62	100
🏙️ Population	2.11M	5.45M

The cost of living in Medan is 82% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 8825th and 649th ($466 vs $2640) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th 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 1.5 months in Sydney. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 5663rd and 3rd 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	$1.81	$13.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$77.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$9.79
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$7.2
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$3.47
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$2.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$1915
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$1294
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$3447
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$2319
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$112
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$172
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$47.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	6.15%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$12628
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$7359
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$3.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$134
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$23.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.59
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$2.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.99
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$5.43
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$8.55
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$3.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$2.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$2.98
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$4.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$2.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.36
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.8
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$2.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$14.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$4.45
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$29.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$8.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$5.8
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$2.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$2.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$58.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$63.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$20
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$75.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$99.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$2071
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$19140

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 Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2181
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2292
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$1888
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1599
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1580
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1839
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1568
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1678
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1364
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2019
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1747
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1184
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1667
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1662
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1813
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2297
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2140
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1725
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1706
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1362
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1639
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1736
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1662
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1674
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1681
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2308
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1768
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1728
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1738
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2065
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1673
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1697
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1798
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2058
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1464
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1710