Islamabad vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Islamabad	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$442	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1170	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$199	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$457	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$156	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$34.9	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$261	$5531
😷 Air quality	Bad	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	26 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	69	87
😀 Quality of life	49	91
🏙️ Population	1.01M	1.39M

The cost of living in Islamabad is 87% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 8870th and 36th ($442 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 32nd in Pakistan and the United States, respectively. Check Pakistan vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Islamabad compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Islamabad ranked 2nd best city to live in Pakistan vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 6313th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Islamabad vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Islamabad vs San Diego

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

	Islamabad	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.13	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$17.7	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.22	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.08	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.39	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$94.4	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$514	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$283	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.9	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.9	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.86%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1142	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$682	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$6.78	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.25	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.93	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.67	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.28	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.57	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.52	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.88	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.44	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.27	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.8	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$2.56	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.59	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.13	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.9	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.59	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.1	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$21.2	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.31	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$1.71	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.4	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.1	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$64.6	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2961	$28706

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Islamabad

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$382
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$354
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$366
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$273
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$364
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$346
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$379
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$373
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$354
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$458
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$380
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$281
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$287
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$308
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$389
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$321
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$303
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$306
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$411
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$292
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$342
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$383
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$305
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$355
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$366
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$300
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$386
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$358
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$474
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$361
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$356
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$441
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$392
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$389
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$369

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3065
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$2962
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2914
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$3017
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2916
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2911
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2964
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3043
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1047
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2898
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2930
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3124
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$912
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$910
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3279
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2917
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3273
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2834
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3199
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2907
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2637
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2945
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3109
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2936
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2732
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$2950
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2763
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3188
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$2996
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2578
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$880
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2694
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3496
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3082
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2971
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3326
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$3020
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2764
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2682
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2759