Kompas’s Ayam Goreng Index compares the minutes of minimum-wage work needed to afford fried chicken across Indonesia, from Banjarmasin to Kupang.
Ayam Goreng Index: Purchasing Power Across Indonesia
A portion of fried chicken takes nearly six times as much minimum-wage work to afford in Kupang as in Banjarmasin: 108 minutes compared with 19 minutes. Kompas’s Ayam Goreng Index uses this everyday food to illustrate differences in local purchasing power across Indonesia. Using fried-chicken prices from BPS, Indonesia’s national statistics agency, the index asks a simple question: how many minutes must someone earning the local minimum wage work to afford a portion of fried chicken, without rice or a drink?
From the Big Mac Index to the Ayam Goreng Index
To understand purchasing power, economists often use a “basket of goods”: a selection of goods and services whose combined price allows comparisons across places and over time. Comparing that cost with local incomes helps show how far people’s money goes. A familiar alternative is the Big Mac Index. Developed by The Economist, it uses a single, relatively standardized item: the McDonald’s Big Mac. It compares prices across countries to explore whether currencies are overvalued or undervalued.
Harian Kompas’s Indonesian alternative shifts the focus from currency comparisons to local affordability: how long do you need to work to buy a portion of ayam goreng? The comparison below uses 2025 annual average prices and the minimum wage applicable in each location: the city or regency minimum wage where available, otherwise the provincial minimum wage. Monthly wages are converted into earnings per minute using a 40-hour working week and four weeks per month.
The index offers a simple illustration of affordability at the local minimum wage, rather than a complete measure of living costs or what residents actually earn.
Where does fried chicken take the most work to afford?
Across the 34 locations, a portion of fried chicken costs around Rp18,000 on average. That said, you need to work hard in places like Denpasar, Mataram and Gorontalo: more than an hour at the local minimum wage. In Kupang and Kendari, fried chicken is particularly hard-earned, requiring around 108 and 106 minutes, respectively, for a portion without rice or a drink.
Source: Selected locations from Kompas’s Ayam Goreng Index. Lower values indicate greater affordability relative to the local minimum wage
However, if you happen to be in Medan, Pangkal Pinang, Yogyakarta or Serang, getting a portion of ayam goreng takes around 30 minutes. Banjarmasin is the most affordable in this comparison: 19 minutes of work gets you your golden, crunchy chicken. Now that we have an Ayam Goreng Index, I'm looking forward to the NasGor Index.
