Cost of Living inSurabaya, Java, Indonesia
Image credit: Ya, saya inBaliTimur
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Indonesia: $14,470/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 73% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
5.6 / 10
#78 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Monthly Costs
Rent
Food
Transport
Utilities
Education
Child Education
Public-school quality + expat access, alongside international and private school cost — the two paths a relocating family weighs.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for Indonesia; Surabaya, Java-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Limited public-school fit
Expat access
Possible, rarely the expat choice
hardInstruction
Indonesian
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Indonesia's public system is not the route most expat families choose when they have alternatives.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident access may be possible, but Indonesian-medium instruction and uneven quality make the public path a hard sell for foreign families.
📋 Homeschooling
Legal (recognized alternative)Homeschooling is recognized under the Indonesian National Education System. Must register with the local education office. Students can take national exams (Paket A/B/C equivalency exams) to receive official certificates. Growing community in Bali and Jakarta.
Homeschool legality in Indonesia — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Surabaya, Java, Indonesia.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$420-$590
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$740-$1,010
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Surabaya: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
International airport
Juanda gives Surabaya one of Indonesia’s strongest non-Jakarta air gateways, keeping East Java practical for domestic and regional family travel.
Urban transit
Commuter rail and bus
Commuter rail, intercity rail stations, and buses give Surabaya a more structured daily-mobility backbone than most Indonesian secondary cities, even if it still remains road-heavy.
Rideshare
App-hailed rides available
App-hailed rides are a practical fallback for airport runs and neighborhood gaps outside the strongest rail and bus corridors.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Indonesia.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
LimitedDoctor staffing is lighter, hospital capacity looks tighter, and maternal outcomes are weaker weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedA visible public hospital footprint help, but country-level outcomes are weaker.
Private care
GoodA large tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
67/100
2023
Physicians
0.52/1k
2023
Hospital beds
1.37/1k
2023
Out of pocket
31%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
71.3 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
140/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
9.2/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Indonesia yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Support Services | — |
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Real Estate | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2023 annual wages in Surabaya, Java, Indonesia · Source: BPS Sakernas (region-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival.
Long-Term Visa Programs
digital nomad
B211A Remote Worker Visa
Migrated from legacy digital_nomad_visas row 32
retirement
Retirement KITASQuick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in Surabaya compared with the US?
Your money goes about 3.9x further in Surabaya than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Surabaya cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Surabaya is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 73% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Surabaya.
How does rent in Surabaya compare with New York City?
Rent in Surabaya is about 89% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Surabaya?
Groceries in Surabaya are about 65% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 86% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Surabaya, Java
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city and the capital of East Java, a major port and industrial center on the Madura Strait. The economy is anchored by shipping through Tanjung Perak, ship-building, petrochemicals, and manufacturing, with a smaller financial-services presence than Jakarta. Relocators considering Surabaya over Jakarta typically gain lower rents, much shorter commute times, and a more linear urban layout, but lose the international-school density and embassy infrastructure of the capital. The climate is tropical with hot humid weather year-round and a defined wet season from November through April. Indonesian is the working language; English is common in business and education but thinner in daily commercial settings than in Bali or central Jakarta. The Suramadu bridge connects directly to Madura island.
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