Abu Dhabi vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: July 09, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1915	$3487
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4277	$7916
🏠 One person rent	$1247	$2379
🏘️ Family rent	$2181	$4163
🍽️ Food expenses	$451	$731
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.9	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3000	$5296
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	53	87
😀 Quality of life	84	92
🏙️ Population	1.57M	1.39M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 45% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 2282nd and 36th ($1915 vs $3487) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 27th 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 1.6 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 22nd in the United States, while ranked 427th and 84th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs San Diego infographic

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<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	$11	$21.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.8	$85.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.57	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.4	$8.69
☕ Cappuccino	$5.73	$6.22
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.26	$3.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1359	$2525
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$975	$2039
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2488	$4570
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1798	$3647
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.2	$171
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$142	$261
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$103	$71.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.21%	6.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5745	$9363
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12613	$7061
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$2.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26	$75.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.64	$19.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.77	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.02	$1.27
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$3.91
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$4.03
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.66	$5.86
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$14.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.57	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$19.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$4.63
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.72
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$4.18
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$4.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$2.68
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.43	$1.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.35	$3.22
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$16.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.38	$2.88
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.22	$12.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.82	$15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6	$10.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.71	$5.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.96	$2.73
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$67.1	$66.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.7	$17.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.4	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$30.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.8	$59.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.4	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$612	$1736
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12182	$28535

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	$1713
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2512
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1383
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1450
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2504
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1081
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1215
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1455
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1762
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1688
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$631
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$794
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$995
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1205
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1240
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1226
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1116
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$537
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$1063
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1055
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$537
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$893
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$913
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$515
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$530
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$564
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$464
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$489
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$541
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$521
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$578
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$524
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$527
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$536
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$604
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$515
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1695
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1242
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$493

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3103
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$2948
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2891
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2930
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2875
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2863
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2925
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1162
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2862
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2885
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$2933
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1011
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1001
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3216
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2874
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3194
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2786
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3176
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2849
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2656
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2978
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3056
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3006
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2703
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3031
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2751
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3483
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3064
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2653
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$898
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2677
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3474
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$2991
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2984
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2522
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2810
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2681
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2744