OBJECTIVES: Antibiotic resistance is known to be associated with increased burden of morbidity, mortality and treatment costs all over the world. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important gram positive bacteria which causes serious community acquired as well as hospital acquired infections. The objective of this study is to compare the direct costs and length of stay in MRSA versus MSSA infections among in-patients of the hospital. METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out from Jan-Dec 2013 and the hospitalization cost was collected for the patients with MRSA and MSSA infections from the medicine ICU and the microbiology department for 63 patients. The data was analyzed for the type of infection and the average hospitalization cost. The median hospitalization cost was calculated for both the group of patients. RESULTS: Out of the 63 patients observed, 44 (69.84%) patients were infected with MRSA and 19 (30.15%) were infected with MSSA. The median length of stay was 10 days in MRSA group as compared to 7.5 days in MSSA group. The median hospitalization cost for MRSA infection was 16383 ₹ and for MSSA it was 11481 ₹. CONCLUSIONS: Methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus is associated with increased length of stay and hospitalization costs. Increased length of stay leads to further increase in the treatment costs and morbidity of the patients as it may lead to nosocomial infections.