Nairobi vs Surabaya - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Nairobi	Surabaya
🚶 Cost of living one person	$760	$549
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2089	$1336
🏠 One person rent	$262	$245
🏘️ Family rent	$619	$448
🍽️ Food expenses	$281	$206
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$42.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$399	$326
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	68	74
😀 Quality of life	59	63
🏙️ Population	5.55M	3.01M

The cost of living in Nairobi is 38% more expensive than in Surabaya. Cities ranked 6622nd and 8233rd ($760 vs $549) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 15th in Kenya and Indonesia, respectively. Check Kenya vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Nairobi compared to 0.6 months in Surabaya. Nairobi ranked 1st best city to live in Kenya vs Surabaya ranked 2nd in Indonesia, while ranked 5369th and 4691st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Nairobi vs Surabaya infographic

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Prices in Nairobi vs Surabaya

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

	Nairobi	Surabaya
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.45	$1.52
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.6	$12.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.64	$3.09
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$2.43
☕ Cappuccino	$2.28	$1.91
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.73	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$395	$266
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$156	$145
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1080	$456
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$418	$311
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$20	$57.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$31.1	$89.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.8	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.8%	8.33%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1743	$1825
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$998	$1248
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.77	$0.43
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31	$9.18
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$2.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.56	$0.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.42
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.56	$1.48
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.01
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.63	$1.64
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$6.88
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.33	$3.09
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$7.57
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$2.04
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.48
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$2.12
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.19
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.19
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.87
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.52	$0.3
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.45	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$27.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.13	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.08	$2.18
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.6	$2.64
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.72	$2.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.23	$0.79
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.14	$0.69
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42	$26.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.17	$2.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.9	$12
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.79	$3.31
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.3	$49.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.2	$72.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$187	$79.3
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7984	$5490

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$589
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$408
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$500
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$541
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$638
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$561
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$483
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$522
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$490
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$602
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$605
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$580
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$562
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$625
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$545
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$646
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$698
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$558
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$502
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$523
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$552
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$486
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$811
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$594
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$650
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$613
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$771
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$648
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$573
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$518
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$801
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$492
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$648
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$413
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$651
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$648
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$585
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$479
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$785

Cities near Surabaya

Distance	City	Cost of living
42 km or 26 mi	Mojokerto	$505
48 km or 30 mi	Pasuruan	$510
73 km or 45 mi	Batu	$410
77 km or 48 mi	Probolinggo	$614
83 km or 51 mi	Malang	$365
102 km or 63 mi	Kediri	$464
115 km or 71 mi	Blitar	$453
141 km or 87 mi	Madiun	$486
215 km or 133 mi	Surakarta	$417
247 km or 153 mi	Salatiga	$421
258 km or 160 mi	Semarang	$493
269 km or 167 mi	Yogyakarta	$408
286 km or 177 mi	Bali	$1267
311 km or 194 mi	Ubud	$845
315 km or 196 mi	Denpasar	$497
340 km or 211 mi	Pekalongan	$471
400 km or 249 mi	Tegal	$480
401 km or 249 mi	Mataram	$355
414 km or 257 mi	Cilacap	$474
464 km or 288 mi	Banjar	$490
464 km or 288 mi	Cirebon	$521
476 km or 296 mi	Banjarbaru	$460
481 km or 299 mi	Banjarmasin	$469
501 km or 311 mi	Tasikmalaya	$373
572 km or 355 mi	Bandung	$545
575 km or 357 mi	Palangka Raya	$475
576 km or 358 mi	Cimahi	$500
642 km or 399 mi	Sukabumi	$563
644 km or 400 mi	Bekasi	$518
659 km or 410 mi	Bogor	$513
660 km or 410 mi	Depok	$385
661 km or 411 mi	Jakarta	$701
672 km or 418 mi	Bima	$597
673 km or 418 mi	South Tangerang	$536
685 km or 425 mi	Tangerang	$558
738 km or 459 mi	Serang	$492
756 km or 470 mi	Cilegon	$488
774 km or 481 mi	Makassar	$525
820 km or 510 mi	Balikpapan	$606
842 km or 523 mi	Parepare	$508