Dresden vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Dresden	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1448	$3486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3599	$7909
🏠 One person rent	$637	$2368
🏘️ Family rent	$1099	$4139
🍽️ Food expenses	$517	$735
🚐 Transport expenses	$159	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3219	$5217
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	65	86
😀 Quality of life	92	91
🏙️ Population	566K	1.39M

The cost of living in Dresden is 58% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 4158th and 52nd ($1448 vs $3486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 592nd and 39th in Germany and the United States, respectively. Check Germany vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.2 months in Dresden compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Dresden ranked 17th best city to live in Germany vs San Diego ranked 38th in the United States, while ranked 96th and 155th among best cities to live in the world.

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/dresden/san-diego.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dresden vs San Diego infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dresden/san-diego" target="_blank">Dresden vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dresden vs San Diego

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

	Dresden	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.5	$22.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.7	$84.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.1	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.44	$8.97
☕ Cappuccino	$4.13	$6.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.84	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$652	$2489
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$423	$2046
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1203	$4508
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$764	$3643
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$210	$251
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.8	$71.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.99%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5147	$8050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2772	$6577
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.96	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.2	$71.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.7	$19.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.06	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.77	$4.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$3.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.69	$7.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.9	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$4.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.2	$1.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.69	$4.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$2.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.73	$1.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.74	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.91	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.07	$3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.96	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.37	$15.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.47	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.43	$5.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.66	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$72.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13	$19.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.6	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$16	$30.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$87.6	$66.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$446	$1937
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15933	$22295

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1412
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1410
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1417
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1424
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1430
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1316
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1445
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1216
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1440
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$1006
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1141
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1503
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1517
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1461
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1470
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1094
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1530
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1276
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1332
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1174
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1464
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1419
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1438
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1505
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1482
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1460
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1299
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1467
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1332
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1363
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1131
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1174
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1579
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1659
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1244
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1402
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1112
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1195
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1218
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1551

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3269
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3094
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$3023
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$3033
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2997
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2984
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3065
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3077
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1276
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2956
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$3012
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3265
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1126
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1108
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3274
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$3008
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$3011
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3221
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2984
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2690
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2994
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3137
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3051
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2799
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3075
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2850
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3492
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3129
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2646
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$967
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2663
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3520
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3064
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2984
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3503
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2598
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2768
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2738
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2826