Dresden vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Dresden	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1531	$3507
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3749	$7962
🏠 One person rent	$706	$2395
🏘️ Family rent	$1209	$4150
🍽️ Food expenses	$528	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$159	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3314	$5553
😷 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 56% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 3968th and 50th ($1531 vs $3507) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 536th and 38th 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 1.6 months in San Diego. Dresden ranked 19th best city to live in Germany vs San Diego ranked 26th in the United States, while ranked 117th and 137th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$13.3	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.9	$86.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.29	$8.74
☕ Cappuccino	$4.08	$6.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.91	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$716	$2519
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$2068
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1275	$4514
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$840	$3653
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$154	$165
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$243	$253
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$71.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.93%	6.5%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5211	$8566
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3268	$6843
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.75	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72.9	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.01	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.25	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.89	$3.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$3.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.74	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12	$13.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23	$20.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.41	$4.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.21	$4.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.31	$4.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$2.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$2.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$1.61
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.8	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.68	$16.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.05	$2.8
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.19	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.57	$9.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.47	$5.5
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.68	$2.48
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36	$62.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$18.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$55	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.9	$30.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$90.6	$63
👟 Brand Sneakers	$111	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$390	$1998
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16803	$26517

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	$1478
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1476
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1473
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1476
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1460
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1305
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1462
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1227
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1454
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$1006
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1093
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1494
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1525
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1502
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1474
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1103
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1497
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1280
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1273
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1200
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1478
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1464
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1479
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1510
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1488
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1472
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1334
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1468
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1382
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1401
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1146
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1188
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1576
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1652
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1276
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1375
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1188
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1244
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1196
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1553

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3220
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3053
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2963
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2933
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3033
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3040
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1295
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2948
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2995
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3243
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1141
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1138
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3261
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2995
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3245
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2976
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3251
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2927
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2676
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2963
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3070
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3030
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2758
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3085
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2815
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3513
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3122
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2621
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$968
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2669
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3544
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3027
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2980
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2554
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2767
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2697
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2804