Cost of living comparison

Malaysia

compared to

Indonesia

Indonesia vs. Malaysia Cost of Living Summary

Indonesia is 26.1% cheaper than Malaysia overall.

Restaurants: pay 41.6% less in Indonesia
Groceries: pay 16.7% less in Indonesia
Transportation: pay 25.2% less in Indonesia
Housing: pay 23.4% less in Indonesia
Childcare: pay 36.4% less in Indonesia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 39.5% less in Indonesia
Clothing: pay 15.8% less in Indonesia

Expenses including restaurants, entertainment and sports, childcare, transportation, housing, and groceries are lower in Indonesia.

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Indonesia vs. Malaysia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 41.6% less for restaurants

	Malaysia	Indonesia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.42 MYR13.99	$1.66 IDR29,612.61	-51.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.64 MYR18.96	$3.14 IDR56,175.98	-32.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 MYR3.07	$0.55 IDR9,805.89	-27.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.42 MYR1.72	$0.28 IDR4,948.44	-34.4%
Average			-41.6%

Malaysia vs. Indonesia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 16.7% less for groceries

	Malaysia	Indonesia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.10 MYR4.50	$1.18 IDR21,023.07	+6.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.94 MYR28.34	$4.68 IDR83,685.60	-32.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.18 MYR29.33	$4.72 IDR84,505.70	-34.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.09 MYR8.53	$1.55 IDR27,656.01	-26.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.90 MYR7.76	$1.36 IDR24,332.17	-28.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.35 MYR5.53	$1.11 IDR19,784.20	-18.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 MYR2.97	$0.60 IDR10,770.09	-17.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.19 MYR4.84	$0.81 IDR14,451.97	-31.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.69 MYR2.84	$0.55 IDR9,837.48	-20.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.57 MYR2.34	$0.55 IDR9,925.80	-3.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.61 MYR2.50	$0.93 IDR16,619.42	+52.0%
Average			-16.7%

Malaysia vs. Indonesia - Cost of groceries

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pay 25.2% less for transportation

	Malaysia	Indonesia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.76 MYR11.30	$2.99 IDR53,511.94	+8.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$15.28 MYR62.42	$10.36 IDR185K	-32.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$40,802.19 MYR167K	$23,163.54 IDR414M	-43.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.46 MYR26.39	$3.87 IDR69,326.88	-40.0%
Average			-25.2%

Malaysia vs. Indonesia - Cost of transportation

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pay 23.4% less for housing

	Malaysia	Indonesia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$27.60 MYR112.77	$19.77 IDR354K	-28.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$363.41 MYR1,484.73	$280.41 IDR5M	-22.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$265.07 MYR1,082.96	$163.85 IDR3M	-38.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$36.69 MYR149.88	$49.89 IDR893K	+36.0%
Average			-23.4%

Malaysia vs. Indonesia - Cost of housing

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pay 36.4% less for childcare

	Malaysia	Indonesia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$231.07 MYR944.04	$132.24 IDR2M	-42.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,043.53 MYR32,861.85	$5,685.47 IDR102M	-29.3%
Average			-36.4%

Malaysia vs. Indonesia - Cost of childcare

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pay 39.5% less for entertainment and sports

	Malaysia	Indonesia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.61 MYR14.74	$2.41 IDR43,189.22	-33.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.76 MYR11.29	$1.54 IDR27,492.74	-44.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.35 MYR17.75	$2.38 IDR42,629.36	-45.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$38.82 MYR158.61	$22.79 IDR408K	-41.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.73 MYR19.32	$3.03 IDR54,153.15	-36.0%
Average			-39.5%

Malaysia vs. Indonesia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 15.8% less for clothing

	Malaysia	Indonesia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.43 MYR238.74	$42.46 IDR760K	-27.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$30.42 MYR124.29	$27.22 IDR487K	-10.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.72 MYR317.53	$71.72 IDR1M	-7.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$77.79 MYR317.83	$65.24 IDR1M	-16.1%
Average			-15.8%

Malaysia vs. Indonesia - 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: Malaysia vs. Indonesia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Indonesia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 23 statistics

Be 66.7% more likely to live below the poverty line in Indonesia

Size Comparison · See true size

Malaysia is about 6 times smaller than Indonesia.

Moving from Malaysia to Indonesia · UN DESA 2020

2,378 people born in Malaysia live in Indonesia.

City Size Comparison · See true size

Compare the size of Kuala Lumpur vs Jakarta

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