Long Beach vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Long Beach	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2851	$3469
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6397	$7890
🏠 One person rent	$1879	$2370
🏘️ Family rent	$3145	$4148
🍽️ Food expenses	$664	$726
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4411	$5254
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	94	86
😀 Quality of life	78	93
🏙️ Population	467K	1.39M

The cost of living in Long Beach is 18% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 327th and 43rd ($2851 vs $3469) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 273rd and 33rd in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Long Beach compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Ranked 271st vs 26th best cities to live in the United States, and 982nd vs 97th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Long Beach vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Long Beach vs San Diego

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

	Long Beach	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19	$21.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.5	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.4	$15.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.12	$8.63
☕ Cappuccino	$5.7	$6.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.53	$3.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1954	$2499
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1662	$2053
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3174	$4569
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2872	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$102	$156
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$240
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$56.6	$71
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.49%	6.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7032	$9580
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6937	$7151
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.75	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72.7	$71
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$34.2	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.3	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$1.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.03	$3.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.6	$3.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.98	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$15.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.6	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.9	$20.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$4.5
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.86	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5	$4.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.72	$2.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$2.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.31	$1.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.81	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.8	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.36	$2.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.4	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.14	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.07	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.93	$5.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.64	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.8	$63.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.2	$17.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$95.3	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.1	$30.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$50.2	$60.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.8	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1674	$1745
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19997	$28967

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Long Beach

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Carson	$2927
11 km or 6.5 mi	Seal Beach	$2903
11 km or 7 mi	Lakewood	$2717
11 km or 7.1 mi	Lomita	$3058
15 km or 9 mi	Compton	$2856
15 km or 9.2 mi	Bellflower	$2725
15 km or 9.2 mi	Paramount	$2731
15 km or 9.5 mi	Torrance	$3121
15 km or 9.6 mi	Cypress	$2793
16 km or 9.7 mi	Rancho Palos Verdes	$3688
16 km or 10 mi	Cerritos	$2651
17 km or 11 mi	Gardena	$3004
17 km or 11 mi	Lynwood	$2807
19 km or 12 mi	Norwalk	$2682
19 km or 12 mi	Westminster	$2917
19 km or 12 mi	Stanton	$2854
19 km or 12 mi	Redondo Beach	$3658
20 km or 12 mi	South Gate	$2762
20 km or 12 mi	Lawndale	$3122
20 km or 12 mi	Downey	$2650
20 km or 12 mi	Huntington Beach	$3221
20 km or 13 mi	Buena Park	$2803
22 km or 14 mi	Hawthorne	$2970
22 km or 14 mi	Garden Grove	$2899
22 km or 14 mi	Cudahy	$2764
23 km or 14 mi	Bell Gardens	$2728
23 km or 14 mi	La Mirada	$2774
23 km or 14 mi	Florence-Graham	$2844
23 km or 14 mi	Fountain Valley	$3157
23 km or 15 mi	Bell	$2780
24 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3191
24 km or 15 mi	Huntington Park	$2803
24 km or 15 mi	Maywood	$2786
25 km or 16 mi	Inglewood	$2947
26 km or 16 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2769
26 km or 16 mi	Pico Rivera	$2758
27 km or 17 mi	Whittier	$2788
28 km or 17 mi	Fullerton	$3008
28 km or 18 mi	Montebello	$2739
29 km or 18 mi	Santa Ana	$2821

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782