Earning RMx500? Here’s the places you can afford in Kuala Lumpur

For many people, rental costs will take a significant chunk out of your disposable income.

How much should you spend on rental, though? A good rule of thumb is no more than 30% of your income. This percentage should preferably also include your bill costs (electric, water, Indah Water, etc).

I was reading articles like ‘This is what $1500 in rent will get you in cities around the world’, and I thought, why not do one for Kuala Lumpur? 😀

Without further ado, here are the places you can afford to rent in Kuala Lumpur on your salary bracket.

Assumptions

• You want to rent a room, not a whole place
• You are looking for one person (not couple)
• You search through websites like ibilik.my
• You look for the following utilities: Near KTM/LRT, Washing machine, cooking, internet, (and maybe) air conditioning

So what kind of places you can get? Let’s see!

If you make around RM500 a month,

Your rental shouldn’t cost more than RM150.

Here are the types of places you can get for that price:

• You probably will have to either share the room with other people, or live in the fringes of Kuala Lumpur. Realistically speaking, you need to either increase your income or stay with your family.
• You may be able to get a small-sized rooms at: Setiawangsa, Kepong IF YOU’RE LUCKY
• If you bump up a bit more until RM250 a month, you can get small-sized rooms at: Taman Melati, Setapak, Bukit Jalil, Cheras, Wangsa Maju, Taman Connaught, Danau Kota, Sentul, Jalan Genting Klang, Kepong
• Other notes: You might will not get all the utilities you want at this price range

If you make around RM1500 a month,

Your rental shouldn’t cost more than RM450.

Here are the types of places you can get for that price:

• You can only get a shared room at places near city center (ie KLCC)
• You can get a small-to-medium-sized rooms at: Taman Melati, Setapak, Bukit Jalil, Cheras, Wangsa Maju, Taman Connaught, Danau Kota, Sentul, Jalan Genting Klang, Kepong
• Other notes: You probably can’t get attached bathroom or parking space with this budget.

If you make around RM2500 a month,

Your rental shouldn’t cost more than RM750.

Here are the types of places you can get for that price:

• You can get a master bedroom at: Bukit Jalil, Sungai Besi, Setapak, Wangsa Maju, Jalan Genting Klang, Taman Melati
• You can get a small-to-medium-sized rooms at: Bangsar, KL city center, Mont Kiara Bandar Sri Permaisuri
• Other notes: This is the middle ground – choose between a nice but far place (from city centre), or average but near place (from city centre)

If you make around RM3500 a month,

Your rental shouldn’t cost more than RM1050.

Here are the types of places you can get for that price:

• You can get a (swanky) master bedroom, and even whole places at: Taman Melati, Setapak, Bukit Jalil, Cheras, Wangsa Maju, Taman Connaught, Danau Kota, Sentul, Jalan Genting Klang, Kepong
• You can get at least medium-sized rooms at: KL centre, Brickfields, Bangsar, Titiwangsa, Mont Kiara
• Other notes: You can expect a lot of utilities at this price range – security, shops, gym, pool, etc.  Interestingly, rentals from this price range (and onwards) always exclude utility costs in their rental prices

If you make around RM4500 a month,

Your rental shouldn’t cost more than RM1350.

Here are the types of places you can get for that price:

• You can get whole places at: Taman Melati, Setapak, Bukit Jalil, Cheras, Wangsa Maju, Taman Connaught, Danau Kota, Sentul, Jalan Genting Klang, Kepong
• You can get a NICE medium-to-master-sized rooms at: KL centre, Brickfields, Bangsar, Titiwangsa, Mont Kiara
• Other notes: Damn nice place

What if you can afford more in rental?

If you can afford more in rental (more than RM1500 a month), your choices extend to expat-type accommodations and/or studio suites with a lot of amenities. You can probably live in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. They have funky-ass (and sometimes silly) names like Tamarind, Saffron, Palladium, Regalia, Pearl, stuff like that.

What do you think of this guide? Accurate? Not accurate? Share your views in comments!