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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Chisinau	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$969	$3957
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2309	$8247
🏠 One person rent	$535	$2805
🏘️ Family rent	$933	$4446
🍽️ Food expenses	$304	$765
🚐 Transport expenses	$39.5	$198
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$357	$6139
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	52	87
😀 Quality of life	62	91
🏙️ Population	567K	1.01M

The cost of living in Chisinau is 76% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 5780th and 8th ($969 vs $3957) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Moldova and the United States, respectively. Check Moldova vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Chisinau compared to 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Chisinau ranked 1st best city to live in Moldova vs San Jose, United States ranked 25th in the United States, while ranked 5599th and 126th among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in Chisinau vs San Jose, United States

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

	Chisinau	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.77	$24.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40	$95
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.4	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.09	$9.09
☕ Cappuccino	$2.16	$5.96
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.15	$3.6
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$550	$3010
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$366	$2448
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1012	$4541
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$662	$4005
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$192	$259
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.02	$74.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.99%	6.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2614	$8786
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1942	$8977
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.37	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.6	$90
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.74	$24.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.48	$1.38
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.66
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.61	$4.78
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$4.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$5.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.41	$21.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.5	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.91	$21.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.96	$5.52
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$2.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$5.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$5.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$3.55
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$3.1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.73	$3.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.44	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$2.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.42	$11.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.85	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.09	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.33	$6.96
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.01	$2.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.2	$111
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.97	$17.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18.9	$128
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.04	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$68	$59.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$111	$100
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$443	$1815
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6332	$23151

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chisinau

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Dubasari	$789
42 km or 26 mi	Orhei	$760
51 km or 32 mi	Bender	$690
61 km or 38 mi	Tiraspol	$572
80 km or 50 mi	Comrat	$774
83 km or 52 mi	Ungheni	$954
95 km or 59 mi	Vaslui	$855
98 km or 61 mi	Iasi	$1048
109 km or 68 mi	Balti	$799
126 km or 79 mi	Barlad	$809
132 km or 82 mi	Cahul	$823
135 km or 84 mi	Soroca	$727
146 km or 91 mi	Roman	$694
154 km or 96 mi	Odesa	$641
155 km or 96 mi	Bacau	$807
184 km or 115 mi	Botosani	$840
187 km or 116 mi	Galati	$906
189 km or 117 mi	Piatra Neamt	$712
194 km or 121 mi	Focsani	$857
202 km or 125 mi	Tulcea	$874
205 km or 127 mi	Braila	$870
209 km or 130 mi	Suceava	$834
238 km or 148 mi	Mykolaiv	$529
250 km or 155 mi	Vinnytsia	$572
259 km or 161 mi	Buzau	$801
261 km or 162 mi	Chernivtsi	$579
267 km or 166 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$701
288 km or 179 mi	Kherson	$409
292 km or 181 mi	Brasov	$1120
295 km or 183 mi	Slobozia	$771
302 km or 187 mi	Khmelnytskyi	$541
305 km or 189 mi	Kropyvnytskyi	$577
307 km or 191 mi	Mamaia	$1041
315 km or 196 mi	Constanta	$1119
317 km or 197 mi	Ploiesti	$896
324 km or 201 mi	Bila Tserkva	$464
331 km or 206 mi	Targu Mures	$725
332 km or 206 mi	Bistrita	$716
334 km or 207 mi	Calarasi	$722
348 km or 216 mi	Voluntari	$995

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