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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cali	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$850	$3957
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2137	$8247
🏠 One person rent	$330	$2805
🏘️ Family rent	$553	$4446
🍽️ Food expenses	$294	$765
🚐 Transport expenses	$132	$198
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$505	$6139
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	47	87
😀 Quality of life	62	91
🏙️ Population	2.47M	1.01M

The cost of living in Cali is 79% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 6549th and 8th ($850 vs $3957) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 5th 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 0.6 months in Cali compared to 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Cali ranked 4th best city to live in Colombia vs San Jose, United States ranked 25th in the United States, while ranked 5632nd and 126th among best cities to live in the world.

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Prices in Cali vs San Jose, United States

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

	Cali	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.09	$24.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.4	$95
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.81	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$9.09
☕ Cappuccino	$2.67	$5.96
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.16	$3.6
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$346	$3010
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$227	$2448
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$639	$4541
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$396	$4005
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.4	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$83.8	$259
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$24.5	$74.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.49%	6.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1128	$8786
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$904	$8977
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.88	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.2	$90
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.9	$24.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.14	$1.38
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1.66
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.55	$4.78
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$4.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.83	$5.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6	$21.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.99	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.08	$21.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$5.52
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$2.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$5.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$5.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$3.55
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$3.1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.13	$3.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.6	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.29	$2.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3	$11.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.65	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.27	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.31	$6.96
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.83	$2.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$25.8	$111
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.15	$17.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.1	$128
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.54	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.7	$59.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$100
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$259	$1815
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6818	$23151

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	$788
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$856
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$563
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$631
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$606
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$749
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$769
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$749
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$862
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$537
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$559
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$737
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$524
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$802
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$675
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$816
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$958
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$1106
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$694
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$672
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$1041
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$1162
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$593
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$858
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$1012
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$557
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$680
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$613
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$864
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$1045
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$630
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1001
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$740
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$592
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$797
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$795
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$816
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$516
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$653
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$733

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3460
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3625
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4184
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3368
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3217
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2928
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3345
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3387
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3194
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3808
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3172
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3616
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3234
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3356
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3357
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3075
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3728
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3582
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3357
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3486
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3073
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3029
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3698
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3577
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3588
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2822
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3088
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2822
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3797
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2968
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3043
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3310
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2848
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3276
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3873
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3261
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3559
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2088
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3252
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3273