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

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Fortaleza	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$812	$3962
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1867	$8268
🏠 One person rent	$353	$2809
🏘️ Family rent	$500	$4461
🍽️ Food expenses	$264	$768
🚐 Transport expenses	$95.3	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$388	$5742
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	43	87
😀 Quality of life	61	91
🏙️ Population	2.58M	1.01M

The cost of living in Fortaleza is 79% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 6710th and 8th ($812 vs $3962) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 5th in Brazil and the United States, respectively. Check Brazil vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Fortaleza compared to 1.4 months in San Jose, United States. Fortaleza ranked 22nd best city to live in Brazil vs San Jose, United States ranked 31st in the United States, while ranked 5803rd and 148th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Fortaleza vs San Jose, United States

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

	Fortaleza	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.85	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27.1	$100
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.42	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.98	$9
☕ Cappuccino	$2.48	$5.63
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.11	$3.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$394	$3015
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$235	$2454
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$491	$4507
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$346	$4037
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.1	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$107	$256
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17.6	$74.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.45%	6.44%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1530	$9481
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$862	$9796
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.88	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.7	$89.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.14	$21.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.21	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.14	$1.57
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.58	$4.69
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$3.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.08	$5.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.71	$20.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.25	$22.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$6.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.82	$5.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$5.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$3.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$3.62
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$1.82
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.02	$3.29
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.1	$15.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$2.52
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.12	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.13	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.7	$6.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.49	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.98	$2.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$23.5	$130
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.48	$16.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$47.8	$150
💇 Haircut, simple	$12	$20.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.8	$97.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$220	$1802
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2506	$23160

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Fortaleza

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.9 mi	Caucaia	$760
112 km or 69 mi	Caninde	$677
120 km or 74 mi	Itapipoca	$546
125 km or 78 mi	Aracati	$684
148 km or 92 mi	Russas	$674
148 km or 92 mi	Quixada	$687
190 km or 118 mi	Sobral	$700
200 km or 124 mi	Acarau	$823
209 km or 130 mi	Mossoro	$577
273 km or 169 mi	Camocim	$740
288 km or 179 mi	Crateus	$652
300 km or 186 mi	Ico	$640
305 km or 189 mi	Iguatu	$635
342 km or 213 mi	Caico	$676
366 km or 227 mi	Piripiri	$640
372 km or 231 mi	Parnaiba	$706
392 km or 243 mi	Patos	$608
397 km or 247 mi	Juazeiro do Norte	$609
402 km or 250 mi	Crato	$611
434 km or 269 mi	Natal	$600
487 km or 303 mi	Salgueiro	$609
487 km or 303 mi	Campina Grande	$578
495 km or 307 mi	Picos	$605
498 km or 309 mi	Teresina	$559
501 km or 312 mi	Timon	$543
536 km or 333 mi	Chapadinha	$653
546 km or 340 mi	Arcoverde	$628
550 km or 342 mi	Caxias	$563
554 km or 344 mi	Joao Pessoa	$787
578 km or 359 mi	Goiana	$601
580 km or 360 mi	Caruaru	$579
584 km or 363 mi	Carpina	$622
600 km or 373 mi	Codo	$615
602 km or 374 mi	Floriano	$582
617 km or 383 mi	Garanhuns	$687
618 km or 384 mi	Camaragibe	$589
619 km or 384 mi	Paulista	$452
622 km or 387 mi	Coroata	$659
623 km or 387 mi	Jaboatao dos Guararapes	$743
626 km or 389 mi	Olinda	$595

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