Cost of living comparison
compared to
Colombo vs. Chennai Cost of Living Summary
Colombo is 80.9% more expensive than Chennai.
Colombo vs. Chennai Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Colombo instead of Chennai, you would:
pay 83.4% more for restaurants
|
Chennai
|
Colombo
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$2.07
₹196.29
|
$3.82
LKR1,265.61
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$4.13
₹392.58
|
$7.56
LKR2,502.59
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$0.34
₹32.44
|
$0.70
LKR232.56
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$0.16
₹15.58
|
$0.26
LKR87.00
|
|
Chennai vs. Colombo - Cost of restaurants
pay 99.4% more for groceries
|
Chennai
|
Colombo
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$0.52
₹49.23
|
$0.55
LKR181.98
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$2.98
₹283.32
|
$6.89
LKR2,281.50
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$2.19
₹208.05
|
$6.03
LKR1,996.25
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$0.85
₹80.75
|
$1.64
LKR541.78
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$1.43
₹135.41
|
$2.21
LKR731.08
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$1.27
₹120.21
|
$3.06
LKR1,014.37
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.35
₹33.51
|
$0.37
LKR122.81
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.64
₹60.72
|
$2.03
LKR672.87
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$0.20
₹18.72
|
$0.57
LKR187.42
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.20
₹19.45
|
$0.46
LKR150.85
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$0.18
₹17.49
|
$0.35
LKR116.82
|
|
Chennai vs. Colombo - Cost of groceries
pay 26.8% more for transportation
|
Chennai
|
Colombo
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$4.16
₹395.08
|
$5.14
LKR1,701.24
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$10.34
₹981.46
|
$7.19
LKR2,381.42
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$15,503.14
₹1M
|
$37,024.95
LKR12M
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$3.51
₹333.70
|
$3.29
LKR1,091.13
|
|
Chennai vs. Colombo - Cost of transportation
pay 2.7 times more for housing
|
Chennai
|
Colombo
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$7.70
₹730.88
|
$20.78
LKR6,883.48
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$176.39
₹16,750.21
|
$589.61
LKR195K
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$100.40
₹9,534.16
|
$270.44
LKR89,571.04
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$28.82
₹2,737.21
|
$41.14
LKR13,624.66
|
|
Chennai vs. Colombo - Cost of housing
pay 50.0% less for childcare
|
Chennai
|
Colombo
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$86.66
₹8,229.14
|
$37.78
LKR12,512.93
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$2,104.41
₹200K
|
$1,208.98
LKR400K
|
|
Chennai vs. Colombo - Cost of childcare
pay 47.0% more for entertainment and sports
|
Chennai
|
Colombo
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$1.55
₹147.22
|
$2.21
LKR730.76
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$1.81
₹171.76
|
$2.51
LKR832.69
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$4.96
₹471.10
|
$10.28
LKR3,403.52
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$12.53
₹1,190.02
|
$13.99
LKR4,634.42
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$2.51
₹238.00
|
$4.53
LKR1,501.55
|
|
Chennai vs. Colombo - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 30.1% more for clothing
|
Chennai
|
Colombo
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$20.04
₹1,902.94
|
$18.13
LKR6,006.21
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$16.63
₹1,579.53
|
$16.62
LKR5,505.69
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$35.14
₹3,336.89
|
$79.09
LKR26,193.74
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$29.71
₹2,821.69
|
$41.76
LKR13,832.48
|
|
Chennai vs. Colombo - Cost of clothing
We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this
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