Cost of living comparison

Indonesia

compared to

Malaysia

Malaysia vs. Indonesia Cost of Living Summary

Malaysia is 35.3% more expensive than Indonesia overall.

Restaurants: pay 71.2% more in Malaysia
Groceries: pay 20.0% more in Malaysia
Transportation: pay 33.7% more in Malaysia
Housing: pay 30.6% more in Malaysia
Childcare: pay 57.2% more in Malaysia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 65.3% more in Malaysia
Clothing: pay 18.7% more in Malaysia

The cost of restaurants, entertainment and sports, childcare, transportation, housing, and groceries in Malaysia are more expensive than in Indonesia.

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Malaysia vs. Indonesia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Malaysia instead of Indonesia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 71.2% more for restaurants

	Indonesia	Malaysia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.66 IDR29,612.61	$3.42 MYR13.99	+106.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$3.14 IDR56,175.98	$4.64 MYR18.96	+47.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.55 IDR9,805.89	$0.75 MYR3.07	+37.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.28 IDR4,948.44	$0.42 MYR1.72	+52.5%
Average			+71.2%

Indonesia vs. Malaysia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 20.0% more for groceries

	Indonesia	Malaysia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.18 IDR21,023.07	$1.10 MYR4.50	-6.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.68 IDR83,685.60	$6.94 MYR28.34	+48.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.72 IDR84,505.70	$7.18 MYR29.33	+52.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.55 IDR27,656.01	$2.09 MYR8.53	+35.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.36 IDR24,332.17	$1.90 MYR7.76	+39.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.11 IDR19,784.20	$1.35 MYR5.53	+22.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.60 IDR10,770.09	$0.73 MYR2.97	+20.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.81 IDR14,451.97	$1.19 MYR4.84	+46.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.55 IDR9,837.48	$0.69 MYR2.84	+26.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.55 IDR9,925.80	$0.57 MYR2.34	+3.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.93 IDR16,619.42	$0.61 MYR2.50	-34.2%
Average			+20.0%

Indonesia vs. Malaysia - Cost of groceries

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pay 33.7% more for transportation

	Indonesia	Malaysia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.99 IDR53,511.94	$2.76 MYR11.30	-7.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$10.36 IDR185K	$15.28 MYR62.42	+47.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,163.54 IDR414M	$40,802.19 MYR167K	+76.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$3.87 IDR69,326.88	$6.46 MYR26.39	+66.7%
Average			+33.7%

Indonesia vs. Malaysia - Cost of transportation

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pay 30.6% more for housing

	Indonesia	Malaysia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$19.77 IDR354K	$27.60 MYR112.77	+39.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$280.41 IDR5M	$363.41 MYR1,484.73	+29.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$163.85 IDR3M	$265.07 MYR1,082.96	+61.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$49.89 IDR893K	$36.69 MYR149.88	-26.5%
Average			+30.6%

Indonesia vs. Malaysia - Cost of housing

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pay 57.2% more for childcare

	Indonesia	Malaysia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$132.24 IDR2M	$231.07 MYR944.04	+74.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$5,685.47 IDR102M	$8,043.53 MYR32,861.85	+41.5%
Average			+57.2%

Indonesia vs. Malaysia - Cost of childcare

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pay 65.3% more for entertainment and sports

	Indonesia	Malaysia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.41 IDR43,189.22	$3.61 MYR14.74	+49.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.54 IDR27,492.74	$2.76 MYR11.29	+79.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.38 IDR42,629.36	$4.35 MYR17.75	+82.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$22.79 IDR408K	$38.82 MYR158.61	+70.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.03 IDR54,153.15	$4.73 MYR19.32	+56.2%
Average			+65.3%

Indonesia vs. Malaysia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 18.7% more for clothing

	Indonesia	Malaysia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$42.46 IDR760K	$58.43 MYR238.74	+37.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$27.22 IDR487K	$30.42 MYR124.29	+11.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$71.72 IDR1M	$77.72 MYR317.53	+8.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$65.24 IDR1M	$77.79 MYR317.83	+19.2%
Average			+18.7%

Indonesia vs. Malaysia - 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

Compare further: Indonesia vs. Malaysia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Malaysia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 24 statistics

Make 2.6 times more money in Malaysia

Size Comparison · See true size

Indonesia is about 6 times bigger than Malaysia.

Moving from Indonesia to Malaysia · UN DESA 2020

1,241,634 people born in Indonesia live in Malaysia.

City Size Comparison · See true size

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