Medan vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$420
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$1031
🏠 One person rent	$186	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$236
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$39.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$544
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	55	5
😀 Quality of life	62	42
🏙️ Population	2.11M	115K

The cost of living in Medan is 11% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 8825th and 8940th ($466 vs $420) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 2nd in Indonesia and Bhutan, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 5663rd and 7547th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Medan vs Thimphu infographic

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

Prices in Medan vs Thimphu

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

	Medan	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$17.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$4.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$2.28
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$255
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$26.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	10.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$600
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$947
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$1.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$4.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$4.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$4.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$0.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$0.58
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$1.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$5.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$0.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$3.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$1.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$0.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$3.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$27.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$3.19
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$43.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$235
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$653

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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$450
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$297
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$308
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$311
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$918
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$316
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$298
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$348
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$321
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$338
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$297
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$981
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$284
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$287
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$354
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$297
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$282
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$281
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$321
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$293
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$294
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$352
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$332
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$427
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$464
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$362
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$328
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$300
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$286
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$320
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$289
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$286
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$289