Cost of living in Indonesia in 2025

House rentals in our area can be from around Rp40 - 70 million on average for  3 bedroom house in the city. Pavilions are around Rp 2 million - Rp2.5 million per months and kost rooms around Rp500k to 1.5k per month in the city.

Taxis or Grab typically cost Rp25k for a short distance and around Rp50k to get to the train station from where we live. But we have a car so rarely use taxis.

Our shopping bills are quite high, typically over Rm1 million for a big shopping and Rp4ook for a small one. We go to a supermarket once every couple of days. Last week I spent Rp1.6 million at a supermarket just on food.

When I used private insurance the premium just for me was over Rp20 million pa. Now we use BPJS and we pay Rp150k per month per person. However, we often end up paying ourselves for minor things. Consultation is typically around Rp200k - 250k per visit.

Our kids used to go to a local international school but we took them out of that school after seeing how bad the teachers were during Covid and online lessons. We've been homeschooling them since Covid but they have external lessons and online lessons several times a week. This year they will return to school. With private schools in Indonesia parents are required to pay a one time lump sum at the beginning and then monthly fees. The lump sum is non-returnable and are commonly around Rp30 million to Rp60 million. Monthly fees vary but can be Rp2 million to 3 million per month depending on the school.

We pay around Rp2 million per month for electricity, Rp600k per month for phone plans and internet. For gas we replace the bottle when it's empty after around 6 months and it isn't expensive. For water we have a 33m deep well, so just pay for the pump to run. For hot water we use a Wika water heater on the roof an with electric heater for backup.

A few million per month in general on leisure activities, taking the high speed train to Jakarta and staying in hotels, swimming lessons for the kids, squash lessons, eating out. In November 2024 we spent two weeks in Japan and that cost us around Rp140 million for JAL plane tickets, hotels, AirBNB's, Shinkansen, eating out and shopping. Leisure expenses vary each month. Next trip will be to the UK which will be costly. Trips to Bali or Kuala Lumpur are a lot cheaper.

Car expenses are relevant, servicing, repairs, petrol (almost Rp800k per month for a full tank), road tax, registration etc. Seems it would have been far cheaper to take taxis and Grab instead of buying a car, but then having a car is convenient. We have two cats (used to have three) and actually spend quite a bit on their food.

House rentals vary from 10 million in a small town to 120 million for an expensive 3 bedroom in a gated estate. Estates normally have service fees that include water bills.

My main shop once a week is 1 to 1.5 million, but that's excluding other foods.

International schools vary from 2 million/month in places like Cirebon, but go to telephone numbers for the super posh places in Jakarta. That is after a bunch of other one-off fees and possible monthly fees for staionary and clubs.

My electricity hits less than a million/month

I run two EV bikes that are essentially free to run

My car is mostly used for local stuff so I fill the tank for about Rp.300,000 every three weeks or so.

Area Sentul

Rental from 70 million to 200 million, per year. Mostly over 100 million, maintenance at 1 million

Electric, 1,800,000 per month

Cars: even used cars are expensive to buy, and operation cost about 1,500,000 for maintenance, insurance, road tax, plus gas at at least 2,000,000 per month

Phone at 500k per month

Food at grocery store about 4,000,000 per month

School fees , 90-130 million

I bought a new Luxio 10 years ago.

I tend to use it for work and holidays so it has less than 80,000 km behind it.

It cost around 300,000 to fill it up once a month, maybe 3 weeks, and it hardly needs servicing because of its limited use.

Tax is about 2 million/year.

Overall, running the car costs less than 7 million/year.

I run a Samsung S22 and an S21.

The 22 costs less than 1 million/year with 30gb per month.

The 21 has a 3 sim that costs 50,000/year plus extra data if I need it. The total is about 100,000/year.

Phone calls are extra but everybody uses WhatsApp so that hardly matters.