Cali vs Tijuana - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cali	Tijuana
🚶 Cost of living one person	$759	$1210
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1941	$2855
🏠 One person rent	$279	$568
🏘️ Family rent	$476	$1004
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$397
🚐 Transport expenses	$121	$150
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$395	$988
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	45	22
😀 Quality of life	57	63
🏙️ Population	2.47M	1.96M

The cost of living in Cali is 37% less expensive than in Tijuana. Cities ranked 6830th and 4681st ($759 vs $1210) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th 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 6th best city to live in Colombia vs Tijuana ranked 5th in Mexico, while ranked 6175th and 5591st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cali vs Tijuana infographic

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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	$4.9	$13.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.8	$31.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.12	$9.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.4	$2.79
☕ Cappuccino	$2.39	$4.69
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.15	$1.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$260	$674
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$192	$467
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$481	$1199
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$350	$860
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$51.4	$31.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.2	$48.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$21.7	$27.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.52%	12.9%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1046	$3040
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$838	$2330
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.77	$1.02
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.9	$44.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.1	$16.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.05	$1.31
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.49	$2.45
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.52	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.93	$6.91
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.39	$8.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.1	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.7	$2.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$1.46
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$1.74
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.49	$0.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.02	$2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.7	$10.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$2.15
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.8	$4.21
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.13	$6.94
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.28	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.16	$1.93
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.69	$2.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$42.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.79	$5.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.7	$44.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.26	$11.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.4	$50.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.2	$90.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$242	$201
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6322	$4593

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	$693
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$782
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$511
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$572
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$565
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$667
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$679
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$655
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$730
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$506
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$515
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$678
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$489
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$708
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$608
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$722
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$848
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$976
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$622
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$604
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$950
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$1030
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$546
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$762
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$881
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$585
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$637
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$606
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$882
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$960
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$581
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1082
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$777
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$598
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$721
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$686
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$693
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$542
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$649
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$663

Cities near Tijuana

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.5 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
11 km or 6.9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
15 km or 9.5 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
18 km or 11 mi	National	$3013
21 km or 13 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
22 km or 14 mi	Coronado	$3195
23 km or 15 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
24 km or 15 mi	San Diego	$3469
27 km or 17 mi	La Mesa	$2943
30 km or 19 mi	El Cajon	$2988
38 km or 24 mi	Santee	$2887
42 km or 26 mi	La Jolla	$2996
48 km or 30 mi	Poway	$2922
62 km or 38 mi	Encinitas	$3066
66 km or 41 mi	Escondido	$3215
69 km or 43 mi	San Marcos	$2931
76 km or 47 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
77 km or 48 mi	Vista	$2930
81 km or 50 mi	Oceanside	$3274
84 km or 52 mi	Ensenada	$903
96 km or 59 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
109 km or 67 mi	Temecula	$2681
115 km or 72 mi	San Clemente	$2967
117 km or 73 mi	Murrieta	$3049
119 km or 74 mi	French Valley	$2715
121 km or 75 mi	Wildomar	$2776
122 km or 76 mi	Dana Point	$2994
123 km or 77 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
128 km or 80 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
128 km or 80 mi	Menifee	$2626
131 km or 82 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
131 km or 82 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
134 km or 83 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
135 km or 84 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
135 km or 84 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
135 km or 84 mi	Hemet	$2742
138 km or 86 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
138 km or 86 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
139 km or 87 mi	El Centro	$2751
140 km or 87 mi	San Jacinto	$2642