Cali vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cali	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$748	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1926	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$287	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$513	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$269	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$112	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$394	$5531
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	45	87
😀 Quality of life	50	91
🏙️ Population	2.47M	1.39M

The cost of living in Cali is 78% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 6679th and 36th ($748 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 12th and 32nd in Colombia and the United States, respectively. Check Colombia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Cali compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Cali ranked 4th best city to live in Colombia vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 6204th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cali vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Cali vs San Diego

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

	Cali	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.3	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$25.1	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.18	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.33	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.24	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.9	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$264	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$203	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$536	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$384	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$50	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$76.8	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$21.6	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	13.11%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$992	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$798	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.65	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.2	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.96	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.61	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.3	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.74	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.14	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.55	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.38	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.7	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.55	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.85	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.9	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.06	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.8	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.13	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.02	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.1	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.6	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.78	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.36	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.7	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.7	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$263	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6351	$28706

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cali

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Palmira	$666
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$742
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$513
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$477
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$557
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$598
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$649
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$605
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$680
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$529
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$493
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$653
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$410
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$705
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$514
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$674
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$794
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$887
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$571
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$531
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$897
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$906
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$497
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$709
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$839
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$519
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$563
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$610
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$884
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$882
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$534
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1031
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$722
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$532
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$664
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$648
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$657
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$573
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$651
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$645

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