Cost of Living in Malaysia in 2021

Hi cherry
That is very interesting topic as I am
Moving to KL from London soon.
The comments will help me to estimate my living cost.
Regards
Jahangir

Cost of living Malaysia now days expensive . depends on you how much you make how much you spend.but European people living in Malaysia for them cheap here .if you are a retirement planning to living in Malaysia ok.if you middle income peopel better not come to Malaysia can't not survive.

> What is the price of a property rental in Malaysia? What about buying a property?

1800 RM monthly for 3 bedroom condo in Bangsar South fully furnished
> How much does petrol cost or how much does it cost to use the various public transport services?
Public Transport avg 5 RM per trip within city
Grab avg 15 RM per trip within city
> How much do you spend on average on your weekly groceries in Malaysia? Have you noticed a change in the price of staple foodstuff?
Average 300 RM

> What is the price of your health insurance? How much does seeing a general practitioner or specialist cost?
100 RM for adult online insurance axa
50 RM for child online insurance axa
> How much are your children's school fees? What about the cost of childcare?
1000RM per month per child for a low-budget small private school


> How much do you spend on your regular bills (water, electricity, mobile phone package, internet subscription etc.) on a monthly basis?
Water 30 RM per month
Electricity - 800RM per month without AC
Phone - 50 FM per month
Internet - 100 RM

> What budget do you set aside for your leisure activities in Malaysia? What is the price of a cinema or concert ticket? How much does a subscription to a gym cost?

Numbeo.com has accurate numbers if people want to compare prices of Malaysia and their home country. My own costs are the same for what the site lists and much lower than what it doesnt list because I buy life carefully.

It doesnt matter what prices are today. Your concern is inflation and that you need an income that is rising 10% or more every year at the minimum.

Hi All,

I have been in KL for the last year and a half, this is what I have found:

> What is the price of a property rental in Malaysia?
First flat was a 1+1 Bed with 1 bath, next to Mid Valley Megamall (super nice and well connected), for RM 3,000.
Moved late last year to Bangsar South to a 2 bed/2 bath 46th floor flat, with a parking spot; for RM 2,500.

> How much does petrol cost or how much does it cost to use the various public transport services?
Super affordable. MRT/LRT (Metro) rides are RM 2 to 4 tops. The most "expensive" fare I have seen was RM 7 for the longest trip possible.

> How much do you spend on average on your weekly groceries in Malaysia? Have you noticed a change in the price of staple foodstuff?
Average for 2 people RM 150-200. Depends greatly on beef consumption, that estimate is based on chicken and fish only. We rarely eat beef. Also very light on booze, we are very light drinkers.

> What is the price of your health insurance? How much does seeing a general practitioner or specialist cost?
My employer fully covers insurance with a local company (AIA) so I am not sure, although I have received offers by mail with plans for RM 300 a month, I have not investigated.

> How much are your children's school fees? What about the cost of childcare?
Don't have children.

> How much do you spend on your regular bills (water, electricity, mobile phone package, internet subscription etc.) on a monthly basis?
Water - RM 26-36
Electricity - RM 160 - 190. We live in the highest floor in the building (46th) so we only have to use A/C at night. Before we were heavier A/C users and spent around RM 350

> What budget do you set aside for your leisure activities in Malaysia? What is the price of a cinema or concert ticket? How much does a subscription to a gym cost?
Most Condos have full gyms so we have not had to pay for one. Entertainment is also extremely affordable, especially eating out (compared to our native Europe). Cinema tickets are particularly varied in price. I have seen from RM 12 all the way to 64, depending on the extra services (VIP stuff).

Hope that helps!

PS RM = MYR

Hello everyone,

Thank you for sharing such well-detailed information with us. 

Cheers,

Cheryl

Ciao, I lived 14 happy years in Malaysia as a restaurants owners, dad and business consumer;

I actually left due to high costing of life balance with quality of life (in what is my personal and subjective points), hopefully will help you;

- good quality food; ITS EXPENSIVE! both at the supermarket and worst in restaurants. Don't underestimate this factor. If you are into good local food, km0, but you can't live without some european or american/australian veggie/meats/fishes/cheeses and so on, it will get much more expensive then at home.
- wine/alchool; I am not an alcoholic but i enjoy a good bottle of wine, liquors, good beer. Lucky i always had restaurants for good food and good wine other wise a salary of 20k/myr and well above is necessary if you plan to go restaurants often or drink wine (plus the living obviously)
- schools : they get HORRENDOUSLY pricier, its a business anyway. So you need to count at least 1500euro/monthly for school, or your company need to pay. DONT underestimate school fees.
- heath : don't believe when they say it's cheaper!. it's not true. there is a lot of competitors, a lot of incompetent/greedy/astute doctors, but is totally not cheap. Is true visit (private) are half price then european standard, but it can be frustrating. It changed, it used to be super cheap, nice and professional, now it's not the same! Don't trust the net. If you looking forward to this, better you ask quote of insurance.
- insurance : obviously as a foreigner they will be very expensive, I remember to pay like a 1000 euro a year for a very basic family insurance (totally useless). It end up to pay every time to get things done. You need to count 5/7k MYR each year, each person at least. (or have cash ready for any emergency).
Shopping : only local craft is cheap, only china cheap staff is low price. For any kind of shopping (grocery, clothes, utilities, cars (!!!!)...its more than EU/US prices.
Cars : if you rely on grab/pubblic transportation is fine. if you want a car, it's also expensive to maintain and to purchasing. If you happy with a local cheap car than is fine.
My point is that you have to remember that Malaysia like any emerging countries rely deeply on import and with their own currency it may be time to time instable. So if you look to live like a local, learn the language, live in local neighborhood it's totally doable and fine, but if you plan to live fully as an expat than will be truly expensive, with children even more.

We dont yet have enough people posting in here for a good sampling of details but Maxvoy says it well as to principles and overall situation.

When I came here 21 years ago I faced a fork in the road on nearly the first day -- will I live like an expat or a local? Answering that makes all the difference in the quality and value of life. I saw that expats were a loud, noisy, boisterous group that hung around the same places together and seemed to be oblivious to locals. They seemed to be attempting to transfer their old life to a new atmosphere and treated life like a party. Then I looked at locals, a quieter, even sullen group trying to carve out a serious life full of serious consequences.

I knew how i'd LIKE to live but how SHOULD i live? I wasnt, on the first day, thinking too hard about money because everything seemed so cheap. If I was going to make a decision about the place Id have to do it through the eyes of a local and so I went that way.

I moved into their neighborhoods, ate the same food, shopped as they did and had a normal life free of financial waste. The average malaysian has conquered how to live efficiently and mostly inexpensively. A couple can live OK for about RM4000 a month.

The problems that I found werent financial. In time I came to dislike the way they talked, acted, whats important to them, what they think about and while its all fine for them, I share nothing in common. My interests, motivations and politics are really far from here.

If I had taken the expat route of hanging around each other insulated in expensive lifestyles I would never have known the truth of the place or even that I disliked it as much as I do. Yes, I can carve out a quiet retirement here if thats what I wanted but it would still be with them and the way they are and there is no comfort in that.

Money is one thing and unfortunately people judge a place too quickly based on cost of living. Lower costs wont mean much if you hate a place. At the same time, spending a lot more doesnt guarantee a higher quality of life, it mostly means spending a lot for the same things and life you could have bought cheaper if you knew how to shop and spend well.

A year ago at this time I was selling off crap and packing. Today, still locked down, who knows whats going to happen and if anything I just yearn more to get out. I dont believe this place deserves one sen from me and every time I spend that sen it irks me.

So, about money, whether you spend RM5,000 or RM35,000 a month, make sure the quality of that spending against what you really want and expect from a place is up to your mark. Things are cheap but NOT cheap for what you get. For what you get, things are actually very expensive, a situation i dont think existed in the old days according to those who came long before me. Quality-wise, people and things here, the whole overall situation added up, it pretty much sucks.

I have lived in 12 countries, in Asia, Middle East,  Australia and Canada. Been in Malaysia for 5 years - cost of living in quite cheap and I find that I can live with a mixture of local and expat foods quite easily. I am single and it costs under 3,000 per month.  Having moved around, I often check out the comparison between countries using this website.  It gives pretty close to realistic comparision.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/c … ntries.jsp

Malaysia is pretty cheap to live, with apartment rents as low as RM1600 or less depending on where you live and the apartment size etc. Food also is pretty cheap especially as there is a lot of street food around. Schools are very expensive especially international schools and good kindergartens.

Malaysia is cheaper than most places I've lived in with the exception of Indonesia where I moved to a few years ago. Here it is a lot cheaper than Malaysia with regards rent, food, street food and schooling. The downside for me is just the limited number of products that I could buy in Malaysia or Singapore but cannot get here.