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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$3810
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$8485
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$2688
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$4744
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$759
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$175
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$6191
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	96	87
😀 Quality of life	89	92
🏙️ Population	196K	1.01M

The cost of living in Brussels is 52% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 2354th and 8th ($1816 vs $3810) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Belgium and the United States, respectively. Check Belgium vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs San Jose, United States ranked 11th in the United States, while ranked 190th and 82nd among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in Brussels vs San Jose, United States

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

	Brussels	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.9	$21
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$100
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$10.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$8.92
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$5.89
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$2643
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$2388
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$5083
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$4230
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$179
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$274
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$69.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	6.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$9512
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$9578
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$90.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.33
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$4.73
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$3.45
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$5.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$19.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$16.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$19.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$6.55
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$2.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$3.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$6.42
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.93
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$14.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$2.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$11.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$7.05
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$129
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$14.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$149
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$48.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$77.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$1805
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$25839

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1651
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1663
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1667
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1692
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1580
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1647
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1642
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1660
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1539
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1685
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1618
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1788
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1626
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1556
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1615
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1594
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1541
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1607
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1585
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1536
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1599
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1560
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1663
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1683
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1446
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1492
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1537
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1523
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1461
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1488
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1530
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1362
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1509
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1520
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1475
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1514
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1578
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1613
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1488
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1640

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3362
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3419
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4167
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3287
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3131
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2828
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3448
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3295
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3159
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3752
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3090
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3187
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3060
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3286
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3326
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3002
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3649
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3412
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3344
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3448
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3006
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3096
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3437
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3657
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3466
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2811
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3059
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2747
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3678
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$3041
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$2963
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$3045
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3226
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3785
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3195
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3364
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2135
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3185
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$2968