Cali vs Tijuana - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cali	Tijuana
🚶 Cost of living one person	$829	$1295
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2097	$3053
🏠 One person rent	$318	$616
🏘️ Family rent	$542	$1076
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$416
🚐 Transport expenses	$131	$156
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$453	$1025
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	47	22
😀 Quality of life	60	62
🏙️ Population	2.47M	1.96M

The cost of living in Cali is 36% less expensive than in Tijuana. Cities ranked 6645th and 4578th ($829 vs $1295) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 14th and 9th in Colombia and Mexico, respectively. Check Colombia vs Mexico comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Cali compared to 0.8 months in Tijuana. Cali ranked 4th best city to live in Colombia vs Tijuana ranked 6th in Mexico, while ranked 5917th and 5712th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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/cali/tijuana.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cali vs Tijuana infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cali/tijuana" target="_blank">Cali vs Tijuana - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cali vs Tijuana

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

	Cali	Tijuana
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.79	$12
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.7	$34.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.04	$9.96
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.59	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$2.63	$4.63
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$1.33
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$300	$768
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$220	$500
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$555	$1368
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$396	$905
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$57.7	$30.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$89.1	$46.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$24.5	$31.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.68%	12.01%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1099	$3269
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$890	$2686
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.86	$1.1
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31.5	$37.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.9	$19.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.13	$1.46
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$2.1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.53	$2.84
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.86
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$3.29
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.7	$7.47
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.9	$9.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.97	$12.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$2.78
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.83
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.62
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.86
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$0.7
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.09	$2.29
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.3	$8.74
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.24	$2.37
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.92	$4.65
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.52	$8.04
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.89	$4.27
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.27	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.8	$2.84
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$25.2	$42.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.06	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.2	$48.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.39	$12.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.1	$56.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$104
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$256	$220
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6650	$4857

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	$746
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$825
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$537
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$606
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$592
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$719
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$738
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$709
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$789
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$529
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$547
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$717
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$514
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$757
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$637
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$777
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$919
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$1062
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$663
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$640
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$992
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$1071
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$575
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$813
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$915
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$569
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$667
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$613
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$902
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$1019
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$614
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1040
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$750
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$598
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$764
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$744
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$754
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$538
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$656
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$703

Cities near Tijuana

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.5 mi	Imperial Beach	$2933
11 km or 6.9 mi	Chula Vista	$2995
15 km or 9.5 mi	Las Delicias	$1141
18 km or 11 mi	National	$3053
21 km or 13 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1138
22 km or 14 mi	Coronado	$3220
23 km or 15 mi	Lemon Grove	$2995
24 km or 15 mi	San Diego	$3507
27 km or 17 mi	La Mesa	$2963
30 km or 19 mi	El Cajon	$3040
38 km or 24 mi	Santee	$2948
42 km or 26 mi	La Jolla	$3033
48 km or 30 mi	Poway	$2995
62 km or 38 mi	Encinitas	$3243
66 km or 41 mi	Escondido	$3261
69 km or 43 mi	San Marcos	$2995
76 km or 47 mi	Carlsbad	$3245
77 km or 48 mi	Vista	$2976
81 km or 50 mi	Oceanside	$3251
84 km or 52 mi	Ensenada	$968
96 km or 59 mi	Fallbrook	$2927
109 km or 67 mi	Temecula	$2676
115 km or 72 mi	San Clemente	$2963
117 km or 73 mi	Murrieta	$3070
119 km or 74 mi	French Valley	$2758
121 km or 75 mi	Wildomar	$2815
122 km or 76 mi	Dana Point	$3030
123 km or 77 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3085
128 km or 80 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3513
128 km or 80 mi	Menifee	$2621
131 km or 82 mi	Laguna Beach	$3122
131 km or 82 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2669
134 km or 83 mi	Mission Viejo	$3544
135 km or 84 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2980
135 km or 84 mi	Laguna Hills	$3027
135 km or 84 mi	Hemet	$2767
138 km or 86 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
138 km or 86 mi	Lake Forest	$2554
139 km or 87 mi	El Centro	$2752
140 km or 87 mi	San Jacinto	$2667