Budapest vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Budapest	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1109	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2730	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$553	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$965	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$342	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$105	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1229	$5531
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	92	87
😀 Quality of life	79	91
🏙️ Population	1.69M	1.39M

The cost of living in Budapest is 68% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 4777th and 36th ($1109 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 32nd in Hungary and the United States, respectively. Check Hungary vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Budapest compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 618th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Budapest vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Budapest vs San Diego

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

	Budapest	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.45	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.53	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.55	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.77	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.48	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$574	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$426	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$769	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$79.4	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.1	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.95%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4106	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2694	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.18	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.7	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.62	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.78	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.66	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.96	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.79	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.03	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.93	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.29	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.38	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.15	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$51	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.6	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.5	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.8	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$71.3	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$82.8	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$374	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11151	$28706

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$901
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$790
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$939
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$843
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$924
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$827
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$794
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$762
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$684
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$855
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1045
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$781
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1019
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$823
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$987
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$666
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$786
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$922
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$784
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$784
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1039
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1237
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$802
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$747
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1080
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$794
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$892
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1181
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$676
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$692
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$935
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$681
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$750
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1202
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1275
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$768
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$766
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$848
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1118
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1039

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