Cities similar to Kuala Lumpur

Ranked by how close each city sits to Kuala Lumpur across ten measured metrics: sex ratio, cost, rent, salary, safety, air, green space, places to eat and universities. Closer is more alike, not better.

Johor Bahru is the closest match, 15.8 percentile points from Kuala Lumpur across 10 shared metrics. The two sit within eight percentile points of each other on green space, women aged 20–39 and cost of living. The band widens slowly from there: the last city listed sits 23.9 away, so these 10 are a cluster rather than a ranking with a clear winner. 1 of the 10 is also in Malaysia; the other 9 are abroad. Distance says how alike two cities measure, never which one is better to live in: a city can be close to Kuala Lumpur because both score badly on the same things.

921 cities ranked by male-to-female ratio, 848 of them measured below national level, 104 country deep-dives.

Closest on
Johor BahruMalaysia15.810green space, women aged 20–39, cost of living
BengaluruIndia16.210salary against local costs, places to eat, women aged 20–39
PuneIndia20.210salary against local costs, clean air, women aged 20–39
SuwonSouth Korea20.610salary against local costs, clean air, women aged 20–39
IncheonSouth Korea20.910city-centre rent, salary against local costs, clean air
GuangzhouChina21.410salary against local costs, clean air, women aged 20–39
BusanSouth Korea21.510salary against local costs, city-centre rent
SarajevoBosnia and Herzegovina22.610green space, women aged 20–39
SofiaBulgaria23.510places to eat, local salary, universities
DelhiIndia23.910safety, women aged 20–39, clean air

Distance is the root-mean-square gap in percentile points across the metrics both cities carry, so 0 would be an exact match and 100 the opposite end of every scale. A pair scored on fewer than 8 shared metrics is not listed.

Put Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru side by side

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Compare Kuala Lumpur with Johor Bahru

Data updated