Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur 2026
Typical rent, prices and the overall cost index for Kuala Lumpur, with quick comparisons to other cities.
Cost index (base New York = 100)
26.3
74% cheaper than New York
Kuala LumpurUSD
1-bed apartment, centre 2,600 MYR $628
1-bed apartment, outside centre 1,544 MYR $373
3-bed apartment, centre 4,943 MYR $1,195
Room in shared flat 772 MYR $187
Buy price per m2 16,746 MYR $4,048
Living cost excl. rent 2,477 MYR $599
Typical net salary 6,603 MYR $1,596
Compare Kuala Lumpur with
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- Kuala Lumpur vs Lisbon
- Kuala Lumpur vs London
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- Kuala Lumpur vs Manchester
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- Kuala Lumpur vs Milan
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- Kuala Lumpur vs Nice
- Kuala Lumpur vs Oslo
- Kuala Lumpur vs Paris
- Kuala Lumpur vs Prague
- Kuala Lumpur vs Rio de Janeiro
- Kuala Lumpur vs Riyadh
- Kuala Lumpur vs San Francisco
- Kuala Lumpur vs Santiago
- Kuala Lumpur vs São Paulo
- Kuala Lumpur vs Seoul
- Kuala Lumpur vs Shanghai
- Kuala Lumpur vs Shenzhen
- Kuala Lumpur vs Singapore
- Kuala Lumpur vs Stockholm
- Kuala Lumpur vs Sydney
- Kuala Lumpur vs Taipei
- Kuala Lumpur vs Tel Aviv
- Kuala Lumpur vs Tokyo
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How we calculate and where the data comes from
Educational model, not financial, tax or relocation advice. Figures are estimates for 2026 and are rounded to ranges, never exact values. Our cost index is built from open data and adapted by CrawlJobs (aggregated and reweighted); it is not endorsed by the sources.
Sources: Eurostat (free reuse, Commission Decision 2011/833/EU), World Bank Open Data ICP (CC-BY-4.0), US BEA / HUD / Census (public domain), GeoNames (CC-BY-4.0). Source and product names are used for attribution only; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.