Cost of living comparison

compared to

Kota Kinabalu vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Kota Kinabalu is 19.7% cheaper than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 2.6% less in Kota Kinabalu
Groceries: pay 9.4% more in Kota Kinabalu
Transportation: pay 35.2% less in Kota Kinabalu
Housing: pay 9.8% less in Kota Kinabalu
Childcare: pay 69.8% less in Kota Kinabalu
Entertainment and Sports: pay 13.6% less in Kota Kinabalu
Clothing: pay 16.6% less in Kota Kinabalu

Expenses including childcare, transportation, clothing, entertainment and sports, housing, and restaurants are lower in Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Kota Kinabalu instead of Bangkok, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.6% less for restaurants

	Bangkok	Kota Kinabalu
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.10 THB98.65	$3.55 MYR14.61	+14.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 THB197.30	$4.74 MYR19.48	-23.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 THB25.19	$0.67 MYR2.77	-14.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 THB10.61	$0.38 MYR1.56	+13.7%
Average			-2.6%

Bangkok vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of restaurants

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pay 9.4% more for groceries

	Bangkok	Kota Kinabalu
Bread 1 loaf	$1.44 THB45.81	$1.15 MYR4.71	-20.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.50 THB270.59	$13.03 MYR53.58	+53.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.23 THB230.01	$6.50 MYR26.73	-10.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.28 THB72.68	$2.54 MYR10.42	+11.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.38 THB43.91	$1.85 MYR7.61	+34.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.59 THB50.61	$1.24 MYR5.08	-22.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.82 THB25.98	$0.56 MYR2.28	-32.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 THB32.56	$1.77 MYR7.29	+73.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 THB27.13	$0.86 MYR3.54	+0.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB22.92	$0.68 MYR2.80	-5.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.65 THB20.65	$0.79 MYR3.24	+21.4%
Average			+9.4%

Bangkok vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of groceries

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pay 35.2% less for transportation

	Bangkok	Kota Kinabalu
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.69 THB149.30	$1.84 MYR7.56	-60.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.21 THB1,183.78	$41.21 MYR169.42	+10.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,206.42 THB1,183,775.25	$28,436.02 MYR116,900.47	-23.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.63 THB369.93	$3.79 MYR15.59	-67.4%
Average			-35.2%

Bangkok vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of transportation

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pay 9.8% less for housing

	Bangkok	Kota Kinabalu
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.91 THB537.90	$33.00 MYR135.65	+95.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$675.06 THB21,477.90	$379.15 MYR1,558.67	-43.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$321.97 THB10,243.81	$165.88 MYR681.92	-48.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.69 THB2,185.37	$39.62 MYR162.89	-42.3%
Average			-9.8%

Bangkok vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of housing

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pay 69.8% less for childcare

	Bangkok	Kota Kinabalu
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$609.37 THB19,388.11	$130.33 MYR535.79	-78.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,346.39 THB424,634.53	$5,213.27 MYR21,431.75	-60.9%
Average			-69.8%

Bangkok vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of childcare

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pay 13.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Kota Kinabalu
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.79 THB88.78	$2.37 MYR9.74	-15.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.54 THB80.83	$2.65 MYR10.88	+4.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.40 THB139.83	$4.15 MYR17.05	-5.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$51.03 THB1,623.73	$43.44 MYR178.60	-14.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.06 THB256.48	$5.09 MYR20.94	-36.8%
Average			-13.6%

Bangkok vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 16.6% less for clothing

	Bangkok	Kota Kinabalu
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.81 THB1,870.97	$59.77 MYR245.73	+1.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.03 THB1,210.07	$22.90 MYR94.14	-39.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.24 THB3,316.45	$71.09 MYR292.25	-31.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.47 THB2,910.11	$94.79 MYR389.67	+3.6%
Average			-16.6%

Bangkok vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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