Medan vs Tainan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Tainan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$894
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$2330
🏠 One person rent	$186	$263
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$440
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$430
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$81.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$1477
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	55	74
😀 Quality of life	62	83
🏙️ Population	2.11M	1.87M

The cost of living in Medan is 48% less expensive than in Tainan. Cities ranked 8825th and 6262nd ($466 vs $894) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 12th in Indonesia and Taiwan, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Taiwan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.7 months in Tainan. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Tainan ranked 8th in Taiwan, while ranked 5663rd and 549th 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 Tainan infographic

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

Prices in Medan vs Tainan

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

	Medan	Tainan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$6.54
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$26
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$4.87
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$2.92
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$3.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$1.12
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$282
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$171
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$501
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$305
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$47.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$73.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$21.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	1.84%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$3267
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$2457
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$0.59
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$21.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$9.23
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$0.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$3.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$1.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$2.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$2.64
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$18.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$9.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$21
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$4.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$2.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$3.01
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$4.18
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$2.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.33
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.7
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$1.79
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$1.77
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$3.87
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$12.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$5.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$2.29
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$2.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$37.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$10.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$66.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$66.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$88.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$259
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$6518

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 Tainan

Distance	City	Cost of living
42 km or 26 mi	Kaohsiung	$1002
62 km or 38 mi	Chiayi	$914
89 km or 55 mi	Douliu	$894
102 km or 63 mi	Taitung	$854
116 km or 72 mi	Nantou	$894
126 km or 78 mi	Changhua	$914
139 km or 86 mi	Taichung	$1006
188 km or 117 mi	Miaoli	$695
218 km or 135 mi	Hsinchu	$993
222 km or 138 mi	Zhubei	$868
233 km or 145 mi	Taoyuan	$942
249 km or 155 mi	Kinmen	$901
254 km or 158 mi	Yilan	$802
259 km or 161 mi	New Taipei	$1135
261 km or 162 mi	Jinjiang	$615
267 km or 166 mi	Taipei	$1313
269 km or 167 mi	Quanzhou	$621
271 km or 168 mi	Xiamen	$707
286 km or 178 mi	Keelung	$1030
298 km or 185 mi	Putian	$634
308 km or 191 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
356 km or 221 mi	Fuzhou	$628
359 km or 223 mi	Shantou	$589
371 km or 230 mi	Chaozhou	$454
395 km or 246 mi	Jieyang	$451
397 km or 247 mi	Longyan	$697
412 km or 256 mi	Puning	$579
415 km or 258 mi	Ningde	$628
431 km or 268 mi	Ishigaki	$1078
439 km or 273 mi	Meizhou	$669
446 km or 277 mi	Sanming	$616
455 km or 283 mi	Nanping	$671
497 km or 309 mi	Shanwei	$941
535 km or 333 mi	Rui'an	$700
556 km or 346 mi	Miyakojima	$1079
560 km or 348 mi	Wenzhou	$753
567 km or 352 mi	Heyuan	$766
573 km or 356 mi	Wuyishan	$600
590 km or 367 mi	Huizhou	$608
608 km or 378 mi	Lishui	$696