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

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Canberra	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2223	$3962
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4990	$8268
🏠 One person rent	$1398	$2809
🏘️ Family rent	$2158	$4461
🍽️ Food expenses	$563	$768
🚐 Transport expenses	$119	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4087	$5742
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	30	87
😀 Quality of life	85	91
🏙️ Population	381K	1.01M

The cost of living in Canberra is 44% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 1443rd and 8th ($2223 vs $3962) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 12th and 5th in Australia and the United States, respectively. Check Australia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Canberra compared to 1.4 months in San Jose, United States. Canberra ranked 13th best city to live in Australia vs San Jose, United States ranked 31st in the United States, while ranked 479th and 148th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/canberra/san-jose-us.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Canberra vs San Jose, United States infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/canberra/san-jose-us" target="_blank">Canberra vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Canberra vs San Jose, United States

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

	Canberra	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.1	$100
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.5	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.54	$9
☕ Cappuccino	$3.66	$5.63
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.98	$3.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1538	$3015
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1150	$2454
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2721	$4507
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1726	$4037
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$119	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$182	$256
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.8	$74.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.89%	6.44%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8609	$9481
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5425	$9796
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.53	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$88.3	$89.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.6	$21.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.4	$1.57
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.62	$4.69
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$3.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.14	$5.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$20.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.61	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.4	$22.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.69	$6.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$5.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.44	$5.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$3.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$3.62
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.89	$1.82
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.28	$3.29
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$15.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.86	$2.52
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26.9	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.98	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.81	$6.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.5	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.08	$2.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$57.5	$130
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.3	$16.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.8	$150
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.2	$20.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.1	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$112	$97.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2023	$1802
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15408	$23160

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Canberra

Distance	City	Cost of living
81 km or 50 mi	Goulburn	$1821
161 km or 100 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
187 km or 116 mi	Wollongong	$1695
212 km or 132 mi	Bathurst	$1699
223 km or 139 mi	Orange	$1477
235 km or 146 mi	Blacktown	$1710
238 km or 148 mi	Parramatta	$2482
243 km or 151 mi	Kellyville	$2050
247 km or 154 mi	Sydney	$2844
261 km or 162 mi	Dee Why	$2379
303 km or 188 mi	Griffith	$1824
341 km or 212 mi	Dubbo	$1867
357 km or 222 mi	Shepparton	$1815
358 km or 222 mi	Newcastle	$1997
397 km or 246 mi	Traralgon	$1979
448 km or 278 mi	Pakenham	$1896
454 km or 282 mi	Berwick	$1860
459 km or 285 mi	Dandenong	$1894
464 km or 288 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
466 km or 289 mi	South Yarra	$1829
466 km or 290 mi	Bendigo	$1487
466 km or 290 mi	Melbourne	$2496
470 km or 292 mi	Sunbury	$1928
477 km or 297 mi	Frankston	$1889
485 km or 302 mi	Melton	$1906
488 km or 303 mi	Tarneit	$1822
489 km or 304 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
531 km or 330 mi	Geelong	$2217
535 km or 332 mi	Ballarat	$1604
554 km or 344 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
583 km or 362 mi	Armidale	$1288
649 km or 403 mi	Mildura	$1904
669 km or 415 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
684 km or 425 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
698 km or 434 mi	Devonport	$1898
706 km or 438 mi	Launceston	$1753
796 km or 495 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
852 km or 529 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
858 km or 533 mi	Hobart	$2308
902 km or 560 mi	Toowoomba	$1766

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3488
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3608
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4273
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3379
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3257
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2871
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3508
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3603
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3254
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3805
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3181
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3589
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3261
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3382
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3395
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3137
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3771
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3489
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3359
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3520
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3017
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3065
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3676
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3593
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3604
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2910
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3094
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2802
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3831
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2983
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3007
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3346
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2859
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3282
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3778
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3264
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3277
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2089
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3245
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3212