Malaga vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Malaga	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1430	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3228	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$851	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$1438	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$380	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$92.9	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1651	$5531
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	24	87
😀 Quality of life	78	91
🏙️ Population	592K	1.39M

The cost of living in Malaga is 58% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 3759th and 36th ($1430 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 31st and 32nd 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 1.2 months in Malaga compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Malaga ranked 19th best city to live in Spain vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 708th 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 Malaga vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Malaga vs San Diego

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

	Malaga	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.5	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$47.8	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.27	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.66	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.4	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.13	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$969	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$689	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1741	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1176	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$76.1	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$119	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$29.9	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.49%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6060	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2594	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.46	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.1	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.6	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.64	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.09	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.25	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.57	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.76	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.26	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.97	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.01	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.78	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.61	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.68	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.05	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.3	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.58	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.7	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.5	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$75.4	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$87	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$378	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9532	$28706

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Malaga

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Benalmadena	$1415
24 km or 15 mi	Mijas	$1353
27 km or 17 mi	Fuengirola	$1347
36 km or 22 mi	Antequera	$1178
48 km or 30 mi	Marbella	$2040
55 km or 34 mi	Loja	$1316
65 km or 40 mi	Almunecar	$945
67 km or 41 mi	Ronda	$893
71 km or 44 mi	Estepona	$1395
80 km or 50 mi	Motril	$895
89 km or 55 mi	Granada	$1164
94 km or 58 mi	Alcala la Real	$2087
104 km or 64 mi	La Linea de la Concepcion	$1145
105 km or 65 mi	Gibraltar City	$2278
109 km or 68 mi	Ecija	$1201
113 km or 70 mi	Los Barrios	$1041
114 km or 71 mi	Algeciras	$889
119 km or 74 mi	Martos	$1204
122 km or 76 mi	Ceuta	$1141
124 km or 77 mi	Arcos de la Frontera	$1144
125 km or 78 mi	Adra	$1073
130 km or 81 mi	Jaen	$930
132 km or 82 mi	Tarifa	$1196
133 km or 83 mi	Cordoba	$1100
137 km or 85 mi	Carmona	$1197
143 km or 89 mi	El Ejido	$1004
148 km or 92 mi	Dos Hermanas	$1164
152 km or 94 mi	Jerez de la Frontera	$892
154 km or 96 mi	Tetouan	$517
158 km or 98 mi	Seville	$1255
158 km or 98 mi	Chiclana de la Frontera	$1018
162 km or 101 mi	Tangier	$679
169 km or 105 mi	Linares	$1220
169 km or 105 mi	Cadiz	$1359
171 km or 106 mi	Ubeda	$1316
174 km or 108 mi	Rota	$1358
176 km or 109 mi	Almeria	$1170
196 km or 122 mi	Almonte	$1165
207 km or 129 mi	Melilla	$801
218 km or 135 mi	Nador	$449

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