Chicago vs Tijuana - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chicago	Tijuana
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2799	$1210
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6454	$2855
🏠 One person rent	$1702	$568
🏘️ Family rent	$2727	$1004
🍽️ Food expenses	$702	$397
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$150
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5210	$988
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	100	22
😀 Quality of life	97	63
🏙️ Population	2.75M	1.96M

The cost of living in Chicago is 131% more expensive than in Tijuana. Cities ranked 394th and 4681st ($2799 vs $1210) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 338th and 9th in the United States and Mexico, respectively. Check the United States vs Mexico comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Chicago compared to 0.8 months in Tijuana. Chicago ranked 2nd best city to live in the United States vs Tijuana ranked 5th in Mexico, while ranked 16th and 5591st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Chicago vs Tijuana infographic

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

Prices in Chicago vs Tijuana

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

	Chicago	Tijuana
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19.2	$13.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$86.5	$31.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$9.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.36	$2.79
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$4.69
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.99	$1.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1993	$674
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1414	$467
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3215	$1199
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2313	$860
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$108	$31.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$168	$48.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$64.8	$27.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.77%	12.9%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3645	$3040
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2499	$2330
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.48	$1.02
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$74.8	$44.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17	$16.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.01	$1.31
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.01	$2.45
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.93	$1.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.3	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$6.91
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$8.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$2.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.56	$1.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.46
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.76	$1.74
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.79	$0.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.7	$10.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.81	$2.15
🚬 Cigarette pack	$16.5	$4.21
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.8	$6.94
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.84	$1.93
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.14	$2.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$68.2	$42.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.1	$5.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$135	$44.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.7	$11.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.8	$50.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.8	$90.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2032	$201
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23423	$4593

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chicago

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Cicero	$2384
14 km or 8.8 mi	Berwyn	$2360
14 km or 8.9 mi	Oak Park	$2396
16 km or 10 mi	Elmwood Park	$2386
18 km or 11 mi	Maywood	$2367
18 km or 11 mi	Evanston	$2202
19 km or 12 mi	Skokie	$2287
19 km or 12 mi	Burbank	$2393
20 km or 12 mi	Melrose Park	$2385
21 km or 13 mi	Oak Lawn	$2399
22 km or 14 mi	Morton Grove	$2366
22 km or 14 mi	Niles	$2400
23 km or 14 mi	Park Ridge	$2426
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmette	$2288
25 km or 16 mi	Blue Island	$2398
26 km or 16 mi	Elmhurst	$2406
27 km or 17 mi	Glenview	$2405
28 km or 17 mi	Des Plaines	$2549
28 km or 18 mi	Dolton	$2393
29 km or 18 mi	Villa Park	$2413
30 km or 19 mi	Harvey	$2395
30 km or 19 mi	East Chicago	$2030
30 km or 19 mi	Westmont	$2327
31 km or 19 mi	Calumet	$2392
31 km or 20 mi	South Holland	$2379
32 km or 20 mi	Lombard	$2462
32 km or 20 mi	Hammond	$2008
32 km or 20 mi	Oak Forest	$2388
33 km or 20 mi	Northbrook	$2399
33 km or 20 mi	Mount Prospect	$2468
33 km or 20 mi	Darien	$2363
33 km or 21 mi	Elk Grove Village	$2495
34 km or 21 mi	Downers Grove	$2268
35 km or 22 mi	Orland Park	$2392
36 km or 22 mi	Lansing	$2368
36 km or 22 mi	Glen Ellyn	$2261
37 km or 23 mi	Highland Park	$2392
37 km or 23 mi	Munster	$1989
37 km or 23 mi	Tinley Park	$2376
37 km or 23 mi	Wheeling	$2426

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