Study shows Manila has 3rd highest cost of living out of six cities in SEA, average salary worst in region, rent 2nd highest

iPrice study shows Manila is 3rd most expensive city to live in Southeast Asia.

iPrice Group is a Kuala Lumpur-based meta-search website that primarily operates as a shopping aggregator. This particular study is based on data from Numbeo, a crowd-sourced global database of economic information.

According to the study, the cost of living in Manila, which covers at least rent, food, transportation, and utilities, totals about ₱50,798. The figure is 168% higher than its residents’ average net salary, which the report estimated at ₱18,900 a month—the lowest among the six ASEAN cities included in the report.

Manila is behind only Singapore and Bangkok, where the cost of living amounts to roughly ₱119,732 and ₱51,517, respectively, but ahead of Jakarta, Indonesia, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which currently sit at ₱41,026, ₱39,608, and ₱38,314, respectively. The firm noted the latter three cities have a “comparable economic state” despite having lower costs of living.

Moreover, Manila’s rent costs are the 2nd highest in the region. A one-bedroom apartment at the city’s center, for example, costs roughly ₱22,000, which is 56% higher than one in Kuala Lumpur, 47% than one in Jakarta, 31% higher than one Ho Chi Minh, and 9% higher than one in Bangkok.

SOURCE: ABS-CBN