Arlington vs San Antonio - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Arlington	San Antonio
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1907	$2063
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4693	$4604
🏠 One person rent	$1121	$1208
🏘️ Family rent	$1937	$1789
🍽️ Food expenses	$561	$579
🚐 Transport expenses	$86.4	$125
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3714	$4089
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	90	81
😀 Quality of life	78	91
🏙️ Population	394K	1.43M

The cost of living in Arlington is 8% less expensive than in San Antonio. Cities ranked 2397th and 1874th ($1907 vs $2063) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1784th and 1483rd in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Arlington compared to 2 months in San Antonio. Ranked 264th vs 42nd best cities to live in the United States, and 894th vs 170th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Arlington vs San Antonio

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

	Arlington	San Antonio
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16	$17.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$56.8	$61.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.7	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.17	$5.83
☕ Cappuccino	$5.41	$5.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.78	$2.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1271	$1308
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$867	$901
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2259	$1847
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1561	$1394
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$150
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$183	$229
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$53.4	$75.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.24%	6.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2186	$4289
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2186	$1889
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$5.22	$1.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39.7	$37.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.5	$17.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$0.74
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$1.09
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.82	$2.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$4.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.01	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$10.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17	$16.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.18	$4.18
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.55	$4.26
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$3.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$2.19
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.01	$3.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.55	$1.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.83	$2.23
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$14.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.95	$3.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.59	$8.99
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.18	$6.72
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.46	$3.92
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.02	$1.95
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.2	$45.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.1	$13.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$105	$96.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.7	$17.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$53	$51
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1389	$1248
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25323	$17470

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Arlington

Distance	City	Cost of living
10 km or 6.2 mi	Grand Prairie	$2127
14 km or 8.9 mi	Mansfield	$2302
15 km or 9.6 mi	Hurst	$2127
16 km or 9.8 mi	Bedford	$2126
16 km or 10 mi	Euless	$2114
19 km or 12 mi	Haltom	$2145
19 km or 12 mi	North Richland Hills	$2141
20 km or 12 mi	Irving	$2114
20 km or 13 mi	Colleyville	$2124
21 km or 13 mi	Fort Worth	$2219
21 km or 13 mi	Duncanville	$2198
21 km or 13 mi	Cedar Hill	$2195
22 km or 14 mi	Watauga	$2128
26 km or 16 mi	Grapevine	$2076
27 km or 17 mi	Burleson	$2175
27 km or 17 mi	Keller	$2105
27 km or 17 mi	Southlake	$2129
27 km or 17 mi	DeSoto	$2193
28 km or 17 mi	Midlothian	$2193
29 km or 18 mi	Saginaw	$2152
30 km or 18 mi	Coppell	$2142
30 km or 19 mi	Dallas	$2461
31 km or 19 mi	Benbrook	$2155
34 km or 21 mi	Farmers Branch	$2190
35 km or 21 mi	Lancaster	$2212
35 km or 22 mi	University Park	$2258
37 km or 23 mi	Flower Mound	$2135
38 km or 24 mi	Carrollton	$2188
39 km or 24 mi	Lewisville	$2076
43 km or 27 mi	Waxahachie	$2196
47 km or 29 mi	Cleburne	$2177
48 km or 30 mi	Balch Springs	$2208
48 km or 30 mi	Richardson	$2246
48 km or 30 mi	The Colony	$2233
49 km or 30 mi	Mesquite	$2147
49 km or 30 mi	Corinth	$2177
51 km or 32 mi	Garland	$2357
52 km or 32 mi	Plano	$2127
54 km or 33 mi	Little Elm	$2225
56 km or 35 mi	Frisco	$2393

Cities near San Antonio

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Schertz	$2174
30 km or 18 mi	Cibolo	$2175
48 km or 30 mi	New Braunfels	$2221
54 km or 33 mi	Seguin	$2200
74 km or 46 mi	San Marcos	$2229
87 km or 54 mi	Kyle	$2237
93 km or 58 mi	Kerrville	$2165
122 km or 76 mi	Austin	$2444
136 km or 85 mi	Cedar Park	$2171
140 km or 87 mi	Leander	$2187
141 km or 88 mi	Pflugerville	$2115
145 km or 90 mi	Round Rock	$2027
157 km or 98 mi	Georgetown	$2125
161 km or 100 mi	Victoria	$2226
197 km or 122 mi	Copperas Cove	$2083
200 km or 124 mi	Harker Heights	$2059
201 km or 125 mi	Killeen	$1991
210 km or 130 mi	Eagle Pass	$2029
213 km or 132 mi	Piedras Negras	$1009
215 km or 134 mi	Corpus Christi	$1706
216 km or 134 mi	Temple	$2153
221 km or 137 mi	Kingsville	$1883
233 km or 145 mi	Del Rio	$2016
235 km or 146 mi	Laredo	$1736
236 km or 147 mi	Ciudad Acuna	$1017
237 km or 147 mi	Nuevo Laredo	$802
247 km or 153 mi	Bryan	$2000
247 km or 154 mi	College Station	$1913
261 km or 162 mi	Rosenberg	$2114
269 km or 167 mi	Waco	$2285
279 km or 174 mi	Sugar Land	$2071
286 km or 178 mi	Missouri	$2094
293 km or 182 mi	San Angelo	$2762
300 km or 186 mi	Lake Jackson	$2112
300 km or 187 mi	The Woodlands	$2738
303 km or 188 mi	Houston	$2265
308 km or 191 mi	Spring	$2112
309 km or 192 mi	Conroe	$1836
310 km or 193 mi	Pearland	$2150
312 km or 194 mi	Stephenville	$2150