Cost of Living in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

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How Much Does It Cost to Live In Petaling Jaya?

Petaling Jaya is a city in Malaysia that’s growing very fast and becoming more and more famous.

It’s still the best place to live: the house some of the best learning institutions, easy access to high end areas, with great food shops and much quieter than many other Malaysian major cities.

Petaling Jaya is more expensive than most other parts of Malaysia.

For example, with a salary of around 1200$ you would be able to cover most costs for you and your family but your savings would be limited, while if you are single – this salary is more than enough.

RESTAURANTS

Food can be both expensive and cheap, cheaper still if you want to experience the popular fast food (which is delicious and more than worth your money) but it all depends on what you want. A very good meal at a high class restaurant could come up to about 20$-25$ per person. But given the quality of the street food, you won’t even have to bother finding a fancy place to eat in.

MARKETS

If you plan on cooking by yourself, you can find a bunch of grocery stores and open markets that pop up regularly around the city. There, you can always shop for fresh fruits and vegetables and save up a bunch of money. Apart from open markets, groceries are best bought at any big supermarket. Take advantage of promotion held by major supermarkets and always buy in bulk.

TRANSPORTATION

Petaling Jaya has relatively organized though complicated public transport though the locals don’t use public transport at all since they all drive cars. If you decide to buy a car, which is the cheapest option for Malaysia, you can get a good used car for about 2500$ and a liter of gasoline costs 0.50$.

UTILITIES (MONTHLY)

Monthly utilities in Petaling Jaya are very cheap. Depending on the size of the apartment you want to rent and the place you’ll be located, utilities can move anywhere from 30$ to 70$. Occasionally you may experience a power outage but it’s pretty normal and the power will be restored rather quickly. This happens often throughout Malaysia.

SPORTS & LEISURE

Like everything else, prices of sports and pastime activities in Petaling Jaya are low too. If you want a gym or a fitness club membership, the price you’ll pay is only about 35$. If you want to go cinema, the tickets are very cheap too – they only cost about 3.5$. This is very cheap compared to the prices around the world.

CLOTHING & SHOES

Petaling Jaya connects you to a lot of shopping malls too like Bandar Utama, Mid Valley, Tropicana and Digital Mall. Though, before entering those think twice because the same clothes can be cheaper in your home town. For example, quality jeans will cost you close to 60$, while a pair of Nike running shoes can cost as much as 70$.

RENT PER MONTH

As for accommodation and rent, it really depends on where you stay, whether you are renting the whole house or just a room. All in all, rent isn’t as expensive in Petaling Jaya either, but for Malaysian standards, it sort of is. If you want an apartment in the city center, it will cost 380$ but there are plenty of gorgeous little apartments a bit further away from the city, that are charming and cost about 260$.

Cost of Living Averages Table for Petaling Jaya

How Does the Average Person Spend Their Money in Petaling Jaya?

A vast percentage of an average person’s salary gets spent on food in Petaling Jaya, and this is the situation in most cities in Malaysia.

Another quite big expense is the rent, since the prices are pretty high taking into consideration the average salary in Malaysia.

Transportation is up there with the biggest expenses too: even though it’s not too expensive it is an everyday necessity.
Restaurants are also quite an expense.

What’s interesting is that sports and leisure draw more money than utilities in this city.

Average Costs Breakdown

Petaling Jaya: Average Salary, Minimum Wage & Mortgages

Considering their monthly salaries, people of Petaling Jaya might find it hard to make ends meet, though the situation isn’t extreme yet, and people generally live okay.

Their minimum monthly wage is only about 250$, but, in turn – the average monthly salary is significantly higher.

With their average monthly net salaries that are around 920$, however, people can cover most of their expenses, since their prices are low too, but there are many aspects of life in Petaling Jaya that are hard to afford.

If you want to travel here, the optimal amount of money for you is around 1500$ – and with this you can splurge away.

Petaling Jaya Safety Overview

READ THE FULL REPORT: Petaling Jaya Safety Review

Safety Index:

76

• OVERALL RISK: MEDIUM
• TRANSPORT & TAXIS RISK: MEDIUM
• PICKPOCKETS RISK: HIGH
• NATURAL DISASTERS RISK: LOW
• MUGGING RISK: HIGH
• TERRORISM RISK: MEDIUM
• SCAMS RISK: MEDIUM
• WOMEN TRAVELERS RISK: MEDIUM

Cost of Living by City in Petaling Jaya