Beijing vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Beijing	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1067	$3674
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3071	$8354
🏠 One person rent	$596	$2553
🏘️ Family rent	$1354	$4614
🍽️ Food expenses	$258	$756
🚐 Transport expenses	$112	$175
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1802	$6972
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	100	87
😀 Quality of life	77	93
🏙️ Population	21.9M	1.01M

The cost of living in Beijing is 71% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 5141st and 13th ($1067 vs $3674) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 7th and 11th in China and the United States, respectively. Check China vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Beijing compared to 1.9 months in San Jose, United States. Beijing ranked 5th best city to live in China vs San Jose, United States ranked 9th in the United States, while ranked 763rd and 57th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Beijing vs San Jose, United States infographic

Share this infographic!

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/beijing/san-jose-us.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Beijing vs San Jose, United States infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/beijing/san-jose-us" target="_blank">Beijing vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Beijing vs San Jose, United States

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

	Beijing	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.04	$25.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$30.4	$99.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.94	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$9.02
☕ Cappuccino	$3.75	$6.07
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.53	$3.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$851	$2518
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$473	$2244
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2126	$4974
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1079	$4085
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.1	$178
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.1	$275
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$13.1	$76.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.04%	6.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$14636	$11099
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7425	$11117
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.71	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.3	$90.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.07	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$1.34
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.44	$4.64
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$3.84
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.91	$4.98
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$15.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.37	$14.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$21.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.08	$5.87
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.76
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$3.56
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$6.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$3.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$3.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.36	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.38	$2.55
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.28	$15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$2.11
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.57	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.63	$9.28
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.6	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.37	$4.62
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.02	$2.28
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$61.6	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.51	$15.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$34.9	$151
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.52	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.8	$48.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.6	$83.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$782	$1894
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23714	$23974

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Beijing

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Langfang	$734
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuozhou	$769
58 km or 36 mi	Sanhe	$786
78 km or 49 mi	Gaobeidian	$675
87 km or 54 mi	Bazhou	$679
109 km or 68 mi	Tianjin	$710
135 km or 84 mi	Renqiu	$611
137 km or 85 mi	Zunhua	$714
139 km or 87 mi	Baoding	$482
151 km or 94 mi	Binhai	$700
155 km or 97 mi	Tangshan	$742
163 km or 101 mi	Zhangjiakou	$657
164 km or 102 mi	Hejian	$620
176 km or 110 mi	Chengde	$760
182 km or 113 mi	Cangzhou	$720
189 km or 117 mi	Huanghua	$693
189 km or 118 mi	Anguo	$572
196 km or 122 mi	Dingzhou	$614
197 km or 122 mi	Qian'an	$684
198 km or 123 mi	Luanzhou	$677
204 km or 127 mi	Botou	$649
224 km or 139 mi	Shenzhou	$605
228 km or 142 mi	Xinle	$555
229 km or 142 mi	Pingquan	$670
239 km or 148 mi	Jinzhou	$568
241 km or 150 mi	Xinji	$588
249 km or 155 mi	Gaocheng	$547
249 km or 155 mi	Hengshui	$677
252 km or 156 mi	Laoling	$668
263 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$507
265 km or 165 mi	Datong	$729
272 km or 169 mi	Jizhou	$616
273 km or 169 mi	Qinhuangdao	$720
273 km or 170 mi	Dezhou	$670
281 km or 175 mi	Fengzhen	$637
282 km or 175 mi	Huairen	$648
294 km or 183 mi	Lingyuan	$661
296 km or 184 mi	Nangong	$632
302 km or 187 mi	Ulanqab	$644
314 km or 195 mi	Binzhou	$869

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3322
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3417
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4181
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3147
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3083
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2799
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3305
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3220
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3085
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3610
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3094
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3159
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3010
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3228
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3288
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$2986
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3584
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3433
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3442
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3578
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3118
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3085
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3527
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3804
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3473
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2981
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3091
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2802
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3672
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2931
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3023
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3293
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2851
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3224
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$2922
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3196
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3274
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2250
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3170
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3146