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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$3952
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$8290
🏠 One person rent	$195	$2795
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$4452
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$775
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$5915
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	30	87
😀 Quality of life	33	93
🏙️ Population	4.27M	1.01M

The cost of living in Kabul is 88% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 8842nd and 6th ($458 vs $3952) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 4th in Afghanistan and the United States, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 1.5 months in San Jose, United States. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs San Jose, United States ranked 21st in the United States, while ranked 8609th and 88th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Kabul vs San Jose, United States infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs San Jose, United States

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

	Kabul	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.45	$20.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$99.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$9.08
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$5.87
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$3.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$2999
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$2438
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$4520
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$4008
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$175
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$272
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$70
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	6.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$10416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$9325
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$90.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.27
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$1.5
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$5.04
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$5.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$22.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$15.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$23
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$6.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$2.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$5.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$6.69
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$4.3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$3.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$1.88
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$3.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$2.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$176
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$88.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$1874
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$22302

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$401
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$354
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$396
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$393
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$334
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$364
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$428
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$354
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$351
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$344
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$443
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$432
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$376
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$712
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$277
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$436
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$294
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$372
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$265
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$351
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$363
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$333
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$320
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$340
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$291
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$403
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$303
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$302
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$362
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$311
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$316
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$439

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3424
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3476
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4335
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3356
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3202
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2942
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3426
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3415
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3182
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3765
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3130
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3328
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3133
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3333
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3359
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3045
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3890
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3719
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3382
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3462
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$2955
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3089
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3748
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3553
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3634
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2826
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3070
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2810
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3756
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2957
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3071
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3317
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2850
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3285
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3818
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3230
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3255
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2114
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3227
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3254