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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Madrid	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1781	$3810
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4027	$8485
🏠 One person rent	$1048	$2688
🏘️ Family rent	$1736	$4744
🍽️ Food expenses	$445	$759
🚐 Transport expenses	$163	$175
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2294	$6191
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	98	87
😀 Quality of life	90	92
🏙️ Population	3.42M	1.01M

The cost of living in Madrid is 53% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 2443rd and 8th ($1781 vs $3810) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 6th in Spain and the United States, respectively. Check Spain vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Madrid compared to 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Madrid ranked 1st best city to live in Spain vs San Jose, United States ranked 11th in the United States, while ranked 151st and 82nd among best cities to live in the world.

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

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Prices in Madrid vs San Jose, United States

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

	Madrid	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.7	$21
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$57	$100
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.6	$10.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.36	$8.92
☕ Cappuccino	$2.92	$5.89
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.77	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1203	$2643
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$853	$2388
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2092	$5083
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1428	$4230
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$94	$179
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$145	$274
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$30.6	$69.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.59%	6.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6884	$9512
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3988	$9578
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.56	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.4	$90.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.8	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.74	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.11	$1.33
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.31	$4.73
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$3.45
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.12	$5.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$19.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.12	$16.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$19.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$6.55
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.91	$2.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$3.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.26	$6.42
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$3.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$3.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.93
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.02	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.89	$14.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$2.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.25	$11.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.96	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.62	$7.05
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.99	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45	$129
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.2	$14.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.3	$149
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.1	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.7	$48.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.1	$77.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$576	$1805
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10042	$25839

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Madrid

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Pozuelo de Alarcon	$1565
11 km or 6.7 mi	Coslada	$1530
14 km or 8.5 mi	Alcobendas	$1433
18 km or 11 mi	Mostoles	$1573
18 km or 11 mi	Fuenlabrada	$1389
18 km or 11 mi	Torrejon de Ardoz	$1387
21 km or 13 mi	Tres Cantos	$1309
29 km or 18 mi	Alcala de Henares	$1293
50 km or 31 mi	Guadalajara	$1056
68 km or 42 mi	Toledo	$1204
69 km or 43 mi	Segovia	$1285
138 km or 86 mi	Cuenca	$1084
155 km or 97 mi	Laguna de Duero	$1201
158 km or 98 mi	Villarrobledo	$1235
162 km or 101 mi	Valladolid	$1212
177 km or 110 mi	Salamanca	$1086
196 km or 122 mi	Puertollano	$812
208 km or 129 mi	Plasencia	$1098
211 km or 131 mi	Zamora	$1286
215 km or 133 mi	Burgos	$1107
223 km or 139 mi	Albacete	$1209
242 km or 150 mi	Villanueva de la Serena	$1157
244 km or 151 mi	Requena	$1261
250 km or 156 mi	Logrono	$983
251 km or 156 mi	Caceres	$947
253 km or 157 mi	Tudela	$1241
258 km or 160 mi	Linares	$1220
269 km or 167 mi	Ubeda	$1316
272 km or 169 mi	Zaragoza	$1101
281 km or 175 mi	Merida	$1126
283 km or 176 mi	Vitoria-Gasteiz	$1532
288 km or 179 mi	Leon	$1241
295 km or 183 mi	Jaen	$930
296 km or 184 mi	Jumilla	$1241
297 km or 184 mi	Cordoba	$1100
298 km or 185 mi	Yecla	$1324
299 km or 186 mi	Braganca	$806
301 km or 187 mi	Martos	$1204
302 km or 187 mi	Caravaca de la Cruz	$1221
302 km or 188 mi	Valencia	$1522

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3362
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3419
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4167
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3287
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3131
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2828
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3448
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3295
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3159
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3752
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3090
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3187
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3060
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3286
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3326
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3002
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3649
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3412
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3344
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3448
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3006
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3096
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3437
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3657
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3466
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2811
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3059
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2747
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3678
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$3041
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$2963
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$3045
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3226
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3785
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3195
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3364
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2135
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3185
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$2968