Abu Dhabi vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Abu Dhabi	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$3486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4670	$7909
🏠 One person rent	$1489	$2368
🏘️ Family rent	$2612	$4139
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$735
🚐 Transport expenses	$73.8	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2773	$5217
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	51	86
😀 Quality of life	85	91
🏙️ Population	1.57M	1.39M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 39% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 1650th and 52nd ($2133 vs $3486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 39th in the United Arab Emirates and the United States, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs San Diego ranked 38th in the United States, while ranked 424th and 155th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/abu-dhabi/san-diego.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs San Diego infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/abu-dhabi/san-diego" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Abu Dhabi vs San Diego

Prices for goods and services in Abu Dhabi and San Diego are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Abu Dhabi	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.11	$22.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$84.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.9	$8.97
☕ Cappuccino	$5.69	$6.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.14	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1728	$2489
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1197	$2046
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$4508
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2202	$3643
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$251
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$88	$71.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4681	$8050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8556	$6577
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$71.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.63	$19.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.87	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$4.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$3.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$7.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$4.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$4.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.17	$2.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$1.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.55	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.49	$15.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.56	$5.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.22	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.8	$72.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$19.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.9	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$30.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.1	$66.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$628	$1937
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14421	$22295

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Abu Dhabi

Distance	City	Cost of living
117 km or 73 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1791
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2470
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1543
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1455
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2356
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1170
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1173
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1355
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$2100
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$2015
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$620
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$797
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1082
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1062
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1340
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1218
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1193
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$494
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$965
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1059
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$821
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$497
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$778
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$917
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$521
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$526
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$505
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$454
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$457
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$485
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$471
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$530
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$514
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$558
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$700
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$559
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$459
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1628
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1247
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$469

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3269
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3094
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$3023
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$3033
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2997
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2984
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3065
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3077
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1276
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2956
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$3012
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3265
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1126
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1108
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3274
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$3008
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$3011
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3221
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2984
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2690
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2994
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3137
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3051
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2799
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3075
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2850
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3492
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3129
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2646
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$967
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2663
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3520
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3064
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2984
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3503
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2598
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2768
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2738
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2826