Where to live in Malaysia
We track 8 cities in Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Johor Bahru. Average temperatures run from 26°C to 27°C. We estimate a couple needs €2,203 to €2,468 a month to live centrally. Malaysia sits in our low to medium tax tier. For foreigners, long-term residency is comparatively open.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
- Tax tier
- Low to medium
- Moderate personal income tax
- Languages
- Malay, English
- Some English
- Safety
- 60/100
- country-level
- Healthcare
- 70/100
- country-level
- Internet
- ~110 Mbps
- median fixed broadband
The 8 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Town | smaller | coastal | 27°C | 2,793 mm | €2,246 |
| Ipoh | mid-sized | near the coast | 26°C | 2,826 mm | €2,376 |
| Johor Bahru | mid-sized | coastal | 27°C | 2,649 mm | €2,386 |
| Kota Kinabalu | mid-sized | coastal | 27°C | 2,466 mm | €2,341 |
| Kuala Lumpur | large | coastal | 27°C | 2,768 mm | €2,468 |
| Kuching | mid-sized | coastal | 26°C | 4,776 mm | €2,323 |
| Labuan | smaller | coastal | 27°C | 3,244 mm | €2,203 |
| Malacca | mid-sized | coastal | 27°C | 2,366 mm | €2,353 |
Source: City size from GeoNames, temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages), rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals), coast distance from Natural Earth. Cost is our model estimate for a couple living centrally.
Taxes
Malaysia sits in our low to medium tax tier: moderate personal income tax. The tier applies to every city here, and couples who cap tax below it will not see these cities in their results.
Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.
Residency and visas
Comparatively open. Long-term residency is realistic mainly through the capital-based Malaysia My Second Home program (federal Silver/Gold/Platinum tiers, the cheaper Forest City Special Economic Zone variant, and Sarawak's own S-MM2H) or the Premium Visa Programme, all of which grant long renewable passes to applicants who can place a substantial fixed deposit, while skilled professionals otherwise need an employer-sponsored Employment Pass.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Malaysia:
- Investment: about $126k (Sarawak MM2H (S-MM2H) mandatory fixed deposit, RM500,000, the lowest total-capital investor route since it requires no property purchase, unlike the federal MM2H tiers and the Forest City SEZ route; converted at 1 USD = 3.965 MYR; as of June 2026)
For short visits, 165 of 198 passports can enter visa-free, 30 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival and 3 need a visa in advance.
Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).