Honolulu vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Honolulu	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3241	$3507
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7578	$7962
🏠 One person rent	$2025	$2395
🏘️ Family rent	$3537	$4150
🍽️ Food expenses	$870	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$131	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4156	$5553
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	58	86
😀 Quality of life	85	91
🏙️ Population	351K	1.39M

The cost of living in Honolulu is 8% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 117th and 50th ($3241 vs $3507) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 83rd and 38th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Honolulu compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Ranked 139th vs 26th best cities to live in the United States, and 438th vs 137th among the 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/honolulu/san-diego.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Honolulu vs San Diego infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/honolulu/san-diego" target="_blank">Honolulu vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Honolulu vs San Diego

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

	Honolulu	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.1	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$105	$86.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.56	$8.74
☕ Cappuccino	$7.91	$6.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.21	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2262	$2519
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1695	$2068
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4086	$4514
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3027	$3653
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$165
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$232	$253
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.8	$71.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.45%	6.5%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8726	$8566
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7721	$6843
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.03	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86.5	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24.5	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.02	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$5.83	$3.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.63	$3.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$7.87	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18	$13.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20	$20.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.89	$4.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.66	$1.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.31	$4.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.65	$4.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.58	$2.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.96	$2.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.15	$1.61
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$4.61	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17.9	$16.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.5	$2.8
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.4	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.8	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.01	$9.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$7.04	$5.5
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.53	$2.48
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$60	$62.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$19.3	$18.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$174	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.7	$30.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.8	$63
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1887	$1998
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23744	$26517

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Honolulu

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.1 mi	East Honolulu	$2925
16 km or 10 mi	Pearl	$2610
19 km or 12 mi	Waipahu	$2700
24 km or 15 mi	Mililani Mauka	$2643
152 km or 94 mi	Kahului	$3147
191 km or 118 mi	Kauai	$2821
267 km or 166 mi	Kailua-Kona	$3544
339 km or 211 mi	Hilo	$2467
2149 km or 1335 mi	London	$539
3662 km or 2275 mi	Djarrit	$1510
3674 km or 2283 mi	Majuro	$1507
3836 km or 2383 mi	Eureka	$2088
3840 km or 2386 mi	Ukiah	$2588
3843 km or 2388 mi	Pacifica	$3255
3847 km or 2390 mi	Daly	$3252
3848 km or 2391 mi	San Bruno	$3264
3849 km or 2392 mi	South San Francisco	$3245
3849 km or 2392 mi	Millbrae	$3282
3850 km or 2392 mi	Windsor	$2840
3852 km or 2393 mi	Rohnert Park	$2948
3852 km or 2393 mi	San Rafael	$4102
3852 km or 2394 mi	Burlingame	$3346
3853 km or 2394 mi	Petaluma	$3309
3853 km or 2394 mi	Novato	$3182
3854 km or 2395 mi	San Francisco	$4040
3855 km or 2395 mi	Santa Rosa	$2802
3855 km or 2396 mi	San Mateo	$3831
3856 km or 2396 mi	Belmont	$3593
3858 km or 2397 mi	San Carlos	$3359
3859 km or 2398 mi	South Tarawa	$538
3859 km or 2398 mi	Foster	$3604
3859 km or 2398 mi	Redwood	$3771
3860 km or 2398 mi	Monterey	$2873
3860 km or 2399 mi	Santa Cruz	$3489
3863 km or 2400 mi	Menlo Park	$3395
3864 km or 2401 mi	Seaside	$1923
3866 km or 2402 mi	Richmond	$3083
3866 km or 2402 mi	Palo Alto	$3805
3867 km or 2403 mi	San Pablo	$3058
3867 km or 2403 mi	Los Altos	$3254

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