Bern vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bern	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2381	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6677	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$1185	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$2375	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$829	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$112	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6312	$5531
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	80	87
😀 Quality of life	94	91
🏙️ Population	135K	1.39M

The cost of living in Bern is 31% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 987th and 36th ($2381 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 42nd and 32nd in Switzerland and the United States, respectively. Check Switzerland vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.7 months in Bern compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Bern ranked 8th best city to live in Switzerland vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 36th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Bern vs San Diego

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

	Bern	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23.7	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$88.2	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$16.9	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.52	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$5.64	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.62	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1326	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$889	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2668	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1931	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$163	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$252	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.3	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.51%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$13401	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$11590	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.31	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$89.3	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$41	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.99	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.02	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.94	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.35	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.88	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$24.7	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$29.9	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$42.1	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.57	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.32	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.74	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.91	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.6	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$13.9	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.41	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.83	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.8	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.2	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$21.8	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$46.7	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$131	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$156	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2981	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27477	$28706

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bern

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.5 km or 2.2 mi	Koniz	$2457
25 km or 16 mi	Thun	$2481
26 km or 16 mi	Biel/Bienne	$2331
28 km or 17 mi	Fribourg	$2470
40 km or 25 mi	Neuchatel	$2308
43 km or 27 mi	Interlaken	$2637
48 km or 30 mi	Bulle	$2658
50 km or 31 mi	La Chaux-de-Fonds	$2287
64 km or 40 mi	Kriens	$2891
64 km or 40 mi	Yverdon-les-Bains	$2776
66 km or 41 mi	Lucerne	$2931
66 km or 41 mi	Emmen	$2897
67 km or 42 mi	Aarau	$2252
67 km or 42 mi	Allschwil	$2717
69 km or 43 mi	Basel	$2643
70 km or 44 mi	Montreux	$3088
71 km or 44 mi	Saint-Louis	$1286
72 km or 45 mi	Riehen	$3233
73 km or 45 mi	Rheinfelden	$1447
73 km or 45 mi	Weil am Rhein	$1442
76 km or 47 mi	Lorrach	$1434
77 km or 48 mi	Lausanne	$2732
80 km or 50 mi	Sion	$1950
80 km or 50 mi	Renens	$2738
85 km or 53 mi	Zug	$3426
86 km or 54 mi	Baar	$3099
87 km or 54 mi	Baden	$3059
88 km or 55 mi	Wettingen	$2970
88 km or 55 mi	Dietikon	$2934
88 km or 55 mi	Belfort	$1360
89 km or 56 mi	Mulhouse	$1249
92 km or 57 mi	Altstetten	$3037
94 km or 58 mi	Horgen	$2976
95 km or 59 mi	Waldshut-Tiengen	$1472
95 km or 59 mi	Zurich	$3296
98 km or 61 mi	Wadenswil	$2960
102 km or 63 mi	Dubendorf	$2988
104 km or 65 mi	Bulach	$2873
106 km or 66 mi	Uster	$2974
109 km or 68 mi	Rapperswil-Jona	$2861

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3065
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$2962
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2914
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$3017
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2916
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2911
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2964
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3043
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1047
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2898
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2930
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3124
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$912
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$910
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3279
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2917
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3273
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2834
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3199
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2907
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2637
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2945
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3109
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2936
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2732
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$2950
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2763
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3188
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$2996
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2578
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$880
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2694
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3496
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3082
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2971
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3326
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$3020
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2764
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2682
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2759