Medan vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Medan	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$466	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1207	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$186	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$296	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$170	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$223	$516
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	55	43
😀 Quality of life	62	61
🏙️ Population	2.11M	1.4M

The cost of living in Medan is 46% less expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 8825th and 6373rd ($466 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 48th and 1st in Indonesia and Mongolia, respectively. Check Indonesia vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Medan ranked 7th best city to live in Indonesia vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 5663rd and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Medan vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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Prices in Medan vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Medan	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.81	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$10.5	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.14	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$1.73	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$172	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$86.9	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$156	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.9	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75.4	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.9	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.2%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1333	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$604	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.3	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.61	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.24	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.12	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.7	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.12	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.66	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.34	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.98	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.35	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.81	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.76	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.44	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.72	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$114	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10637	$6621

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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600