Meru vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Meru	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$543	$4202
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1430	$9189
🏠 One person rent	$185	$2718
🏘️ Family rent	$300	$4417
🍽️ Food expenses	$258	$842
🚐 Transport expenses	$40.5	$400
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$173	$5389
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	69 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	27	100
😀 Quality of life	28	95
🏙️ Population	42.7K	8.8M

The cost of living in Meru is 87% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 8425th and 4th ($543 vs $4202) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in Kenya and the United States, respectively. Check Kenya vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Meru compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Meru ranked 10th best city to live in Kenya vs New York City ranked 2nd in the United States, while ranked 8855th and 15th among best cities to live in the world.

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/meru/new-york.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Meru vs New York City infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/meru/new-york" target="_blank">Meru vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Meru vs New York City

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

	Meru	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.46	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$35	$90
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.16	$13.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.3	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.67	$6.22
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.6	$3.28
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$165	$3692
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$109	$2206
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$304	$5140
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$199	$3874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$29.7	$144
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$45.5	$218
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.3	$70.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.66%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1039	$18073
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1138	$7831
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.94	$3.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$33.3	$138
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.85	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.39	$4.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$5.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.43	$6.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$16.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.19	$14.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$18.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.11	$6.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.78	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.76	$5.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$6.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.96	$3.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$3.96
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.28	$1.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.35	$3.57
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.5	$19.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.28	$4.61
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.45	$18.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.96	$23.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$14
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.27	$8.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.31	$2.86
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$132
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.77	$21.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20.7	$159
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.58	$40.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$22.7	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$54.4	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$254	$2095
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10408	$21713

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Meru

Distance	City	Cost of living
138 km or 85 mi	Thika	$448
175 km or 109 mi	Nairobi	$807
179 km or 111 mi	Machakos	$415
180 km or 112 mi	Nakuru	$532
268 km or 167 mi	Eldoret	$513
323 km or 201 mi	Kisumu	$549
354 km or 220 mi	Mumias	$524
378 km or 235 mi	Moshi	$540
392 km or 244 mi	Tororo	$603
395 km or 245 mi	Arusha	$618
403 km or 250 mi	Mbale	$624
455 km or 283 mi	Malindi	$563
496 km or 308 mi	Jinja	$573
508 km or 316 mi	Mombasa	$611
559 km or 347 mi	Kira Town	$635
564 km or 351 mi	Kampala	$697
577 km or 359 mi	Entebbe	$531
591 km or 367 mi	Tanga	$533
600 km or 373 mi	Mwanza	$613
666 km or 414 mi	Gulu	$591
712 km or 442 mi	Stone Town	$546
712 km or 443 mi	Zanzibar	$586
732 km or 455 mi	Dodoma	$495
749 km or 465 mi	Baidoa	$745
764 km or 475 mi	Morogoro	$417
783 km or 486 mi	Dar es Salaam	$735
784 km or 487 mi	Awasa	$910
819 km or 509 mi	Arua	$577
840 km or 522 mi	Bunia	$810
852 km or 529 mi	Jimma	$746
852 km or 530 mi	Kasese	$541
858 km or 533 mi	Juba	$513
862 km or 536 mi	Byumba	$671
873 km or 542 mi	Kigali	$872
875 km or 544 mi	Muyinga	$688
883 km or 549 mi	Mogadishu	$721
907 km or 563 mi	Ruhengeri	$553
911 km or 566 mi	Ruyigi	$688
911 km or 566 mi	Beni	$795
918 km or 570 mi	Nyanza	$583

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192