Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Kuala Lumpur is 20.8% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 67.2% more in Kuala Lumpur
Groceries: pay 24.0% more in Kuala Lumpur
Transportation: pay 14.6% more in Kuala Lumpur
Housing: pay 8.2% more in Kuala Lumpur
Childcare: pay 38.4% less in Kuala Lumpur
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.2 times more in Kuala Lumpur
Clothing: pay 12.5% more in Kuala Lumpur

The cost of entertainment and sports, restaurants, groceries, transportation, clothing, and housing in Kuala Lumpur are more expensive than in Ho Chi Minh City. Notably, entertainment and sports is significantly more expensive in Kuala Lumpur.

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Kuala Lumpur vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Kuala Lumpur instead of Ho Chi Minh City, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 67.2% more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kuala Lumpur
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,832	$4.89 MYR19.98	+154.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$4.89 MYR19.98	+6.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,905	$0.81 MYR3.30	+50.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,590	$0.46 MYR1.88	+38.8%
Average			+67.2%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of restaurants

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pay 24.0% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kuala Lumpur
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,843	$1.09 MYR4.47	+1.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$7.00 MYR28.58	+15.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$7.96 MYR32.51	+29.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,008	$2.53 MYR10.32	+55.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,570	$2.02 MYR8.25	+22.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,261	$1.55 MYR6.32	+13.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,953	$0.82 MYR3.34	+41.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,715	$1.04 MYR4.23	+43.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,918	$0.71 MYR2.91	+23.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,104	$0.59 MYR2.41	+8.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,662	$0.62 MYR2.54	+17.8%
Average			+24.0%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of groceries

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pay 14.6% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kuala Lumpur
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,950	$3.22 MYR13.14	-9.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$12.24 MYR49.96	+6.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$41,736.41 MYR170K	+35.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$11.01 MYR44.96	+89.8%
Average			+14.6%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of transportation

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pay 8.2% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kuala Lumpur
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$26.27 MYR107.27	+151.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$617.87 MYR2,522.90	+5.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$371.37 MYR1,516.38	+24.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$47.56 MYR194.21	-40.0%
Average			+8.2%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of housing

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pay 38.4% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kuala Lumpur
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$299.09 MYR1,221.23	-31.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$13,124.70 MYR53,590.76	-44.3%
Average			-38.4%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.2 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kuala Lumpur
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,762	$4.40 MYR17.99	+326.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,978	$3.10 MYR12.64	+70.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,892	$4.40 MYR17.99	+257.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$48.89 MYR199.62	+88.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,697	$5.02 MYR20.48	+44.8%
Average			+117.2%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 12.5% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kuala Lumpur
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$71.46 MYR291.78	+38.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$41.92 MYR171.18	+21.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$86.22 MYR352.05	-5.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$96.07 MYR392.29	+1.5%
Average			+12.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of clothing

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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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Ho Chi Minh City is about 28 times bigger than Kuala Lumpur.

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