Cost of living comparison

compared to

Kota Kinabalu vs. Moscow Cost of Living Summary

Kota Kinabalu is 16.3% cheaper than Moscow.

Restaurants: pay 45.0% less in Kota Kinabalu
Groceries: pay 42.5% more in Kota Kinabalu
Transportation: pay 19.9% less in Kota Kinabalu
Housing: pay 27.9% more in Kota Kinabalu
Childcare: pay 71.8% less in Kota Kinabalu
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.1% less in Kota Kinabalu
Clothing: pay 38.8% less in Kota Kinabalu

The cost of groceries and housing in Kota Kinabalu are more expensive than in Moscow. Expenses including childcare, restaurants, clothing, transportation, and entertainment and sports are lower in Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu vs. Moscow Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 45.0% less for restaurants

	Moscow	Kota Kinabalu
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.93 RUB911.35	$3.55 MYR14.61	-70.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.97 RUB455.67	$4.74 MYR19.48	-20.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.38 RUB105.57	$0.67 MYR2.77	-51.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.61 RUB46.71	$0.38 MYR1.56	-38.0%
Average			-45.0%

Moscow vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 42.5% more for groceries

	Moscow	Kota Kinabalu
Bread 1 loaf	$0.85 RUB64.62	$1.15 MYR4.71	+35.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.27 RUB478.82	$13.03 MYR53.58	+107.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.62 RUB352.84	$6.50 MYR26.73	+40.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.68 RUB128.49	$2.54 MYR10.42	+50.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.46 RUB188.10	$1.85 MYR7.61	-24.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.81 RUB61.80	$1.24 MYR5.08	+52.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.87 RUB66.45	$0.56 MYR2.28	-36.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 RUB68.87	$1.77 MYR7.29	+96.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.64 RUB125.22	$0.86 MYR3.54	-47.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.43 RUB32.60	$0.68 MYR2.80	+59.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 RUB25.86	$0.79 MYR3.24	+132.8%
Average			+42.5%

Moscow vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 19.9% less for transportation

	Moscow	Kota Kinabalu
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.84 RUB216.76	$1.84 MYR7.56	-35.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$36.64 RUB2,797.83	$41.21 MYR169.42	+12.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,994.59 RUB2,825,171.82	$28,436.02 MYR116,900.47	-23.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.73 RUB437.45	$3.79 MYR15.59	-33.8%
Average			-19.9%

Moscow vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 27.9% more for housing

	Moscow	Kota Kinabalu
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$7.82 RUB596.90	$33.00 MYR135.65	+322.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,253.04 RUB95,691.30	$379.15 MYR1,558.67	-69.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$709.24 RUB54,162.93	$165.88 MYR681.92	-76.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$110.60 RUB8,445.86	$39.62 MYR162.89	-64.2%
Average			+27.9%

Moscow vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 71.8% less for childcare

	Moscow	Kota Kinabalu
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$656.36 RUB50,124.02	$130.33 MYR535.79	-80.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,285.88 RUB1,090,971.99	$5,213.27 MYR21,431.75	-63.5%
Average			-71.8%

Moscow vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 9.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Moscow	Kota Kinabalu
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.18 RUB318.97	$2.37 MYR9.74	-43.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.16 RUB241.06	$2.65 MYR10.88	-16.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.98 RUB227.84	$4.15 MYR17.05	+39.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.58 RUB3,404.36	$43.44 MYR178.60	-2.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.56 RUB501.24	$5.09 MYR20.94	-22.4%
Average			-9.1%

Moscow vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 38.8% less for clothing

	Moscow	Kota Kinabalu
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$76.06 RUB5,808.16	$59.77 MYR245.73	-21.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$47.73 RUB3,645.38	$22.90 MYR94.14	-52.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$122.95 RUB9,389.02	$71.09 MYR292.25	-42.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$156.80 RUB11,974.07	$94.79 MYR389.67	-39.5%
Average			-38.8%

Moscow vs. Kota Kinabalu - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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

More cost comparisons

Moscow vs.

Kiev

Moscow vs.

Madrid

Moscow vs.

Wellington

Moscow vs.

Warsaw

Moscow vs.

Prague

Moscow vs.

Manila

Moscow vs.

Reykjavik

Moscow vs.

Ottawa

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Russia vs. Malaysia. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Russia and Malaysia.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Moscow

Add prices for Kota Kinabalu

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Kota Kinabalu or Moscow. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.