Cost of living comparison

Thailand

compared to

Malaysia

Malaysia vs. Thailand Cost of Living Summary

Malaysia is 10.9% cheaper than Thailand overall.

Restaurants: pay 5.0% less in Malaysia
Groceries: pay 1.6% more in Malaysia
Transportation: pay 29.8% less in Malaysia
Housing: pay 10.3% less in Malaysia
Childcare: pay 44.1% less in Malaysia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 5.4% more in Malaysia
Clothing: pay 3.2% more in Malaysia

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

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Malaysia vs. Thailand Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 5.0% less for restaurants

	Thailand	Malaysia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.89 THB96.91	$3.42 MYR13.89	+18.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.99 THB234.52	$4.64 MYR18.83	-33.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 THB25.03	$0.75 MYR3.05	+0.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.37 THB12.30	$0.42 MYR1.71	+15.1%
Average			-5.0%

Thailand vs. Malaysia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 1.6% more for groceries

	Thailand	Malaysia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.34 THB44.83	$1.10 MYR4.47	-17.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.95 THB266.75	$6.94 MYR28.15	-12.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.12 THB238.87	$7.18 MYR29.13	+0.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.06 THB69.17	$2.09 MYR8.48	+1.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.37 THB45.93	$1.90 MYR7.70	+38.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.35 THB45.39	$1.35 MYR5.50	+0.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.57 THB19.16	$0.73 MYR2.95	+27.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.93 THB31.35	$1.19 MYR4.81	+27.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.82 THB27.63	$0.69 MYR2.82	-15.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB24.23	$0.57 MYR2.32	-20.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.57 THB19.05	$0.61 MYR2.48	+7.7%
Average			+1.6%

Thailand vs. Malaysia - Cost of groceries

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pay 29.8% less for transportation

	Thailand	Malaysia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.07 THB170.01	$2.76 MYR11.22	-45.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$32.87 THB1,103.39	$15.28 MYR62.01	-53.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,201.01 THB980K	$40,802.19 MYR166K	+39.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.77 THB361.64	$6.46 MYR26.21	-40.1%
Average			-29.8%

Thailand vs. Malaysia - Cost of transportation

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pay 10.3% less for housing

	Thailand	Malaysia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$19.17 THB643.46	$27.60 MYR112.02	+44.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$407.64 THB13,682.69	$363.41 MYR1,474.81	-10.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$268.13 THB8,999.87	$265.07 MYR1,075.72	-1.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$60.86 THB2,042.86	$36.69 MYR148.88	-39.7%
Average			-10.3%

Thailand vs. Malaysia - Cost of housing

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pay 44.1% less for childcare

	Thailand	Malaysia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$515.68 THB17,309.06	$231.07 MYR937.73	-55.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,528.28 THB387K	$8,043.53 MYR32,642.26	-30.2%
Average			-44.1%

Thailand vs. Malaysia - Cost of childcare

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pay 5.4% more for entertainment and sports

	Thailand	Malaysia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.10 THB70.49	$3.61 MYR14.64	+71.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.00 THB67.07	$2.76 MYR11.22	+38.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.15 THB139.31	$4.35 MYR17.63	+4.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$50.07 THB1,680.55	$38.82 MYR157.55	-22.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.05 THB203.12	$4.73 MYR19.19	-21.9%
Average			+5.4%

Thailand vs. Malaysia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 3.2% more for clothing

	Thailand	Malaysia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$44.30 THB1,487.03	$58.43 MYR237.14	+31.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$32.84 THB1,102.43	$30.42 MYR123.46	-7.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$83.65 THB2,807.68	$77.72 MYR315.41	-7.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$77.91 THB2,614.93	$77.79 MYR315.70	-0.1%
Average			+3.2%

Thailand 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Thailand vs. Malaysia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 17 statistics

Be 4.8 times more likely to be unemployed in Malaysia

Size Comparison · See true size

Thailand is about 1.6 times bigger than Malaysia.

Moving from Thailand to Malaysia · UN DESA 2020

15,790 people born in Thailand live in Malaysia.

City Size Comparison · See true size

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