Malaga vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Malaga	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1727	$3507
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3948	$7962
🏠 One person rent	$1025	$2395
🏘️ Family rent	$1729	$4150
🍽️ Food expenses	$478	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.2	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1786	$5553
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	24	86
😀 Quality of life	79	91
🏙️ Population	599K	1.39M

The cost of living in Malaga is 51% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 3160th and 50th ($1727 vs $3507) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 20th and 38th 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 months in Malaga compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Malaga ranked 28th best city to live in Spain vs San Diego ranked 26th in the United States, while ranked 802nd and 137th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$16.6	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$58.4	$86.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.07	$8.74
☕ Cappuccino	$2.74	$6.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.62	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1174	$2519
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$845	$2068
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2042	$4514
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1448	$3653
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.9	$165
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$136	$253
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$71.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.53%	6.5%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5265	$8566
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4533	$6843
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.66	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.1	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.9	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.8	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.25	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.47	$3.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$3.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.33	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.4	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9	$13.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.1	$20.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.41	$4.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$4.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$4.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$2.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.29	$2.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.5	$1.61
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.54	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.67	$16.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.23	$2.8
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.66	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.8	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.87	$9.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.43	$5.5
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.11	$2.48
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.6	$62.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.93	$18.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$46.8	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.6	$30.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$95.9	$63
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.7	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$616	$1998
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10911	$26517

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	$1614
24 km or 15 mi	Mijas	$1551
27 km or 17 mi	Fuengirola	$1537
36 km or 22 mi	Antequera	$1336
48 km or 30 mi	Marbella	$1935
55 km or 34 mi	Loja	$1500
65 km or 40 mi	Almunecar	$1129
67 km or 41 mi	Ronda	$1003
71 km or 44 mi	Estepona	$1625
80 km or 50 mi	Motril	$1016
89 km or 55 mi	Granada	$1360
94 km or 58 mi	Alcala la Real	$2270
104 km or 64 mi	La Linea de la Concepcion	$1316
105 km or 65 mi	Gibraltar City	$2594
109 km or 68 mi	Ecija	$1385
113 km or 70 mi	Los Barrios	$1212
114 km or 71 mi	Algeciras	$1041
119 km or 74 mi	Martos	$1385
122 km or 76 mi	Ceuta	$1340
124 km or 77 mi	Arcos de la Frontera	$1295
125 km or 78 mi	Adra	$1230
130 km or 81 mi	Jaen	$1123
132 km or 82 mi	Tarifa	$1394
133 km or 83 mi	Cordoba	$1331
137 km or 85 mi	Carmona	$1353
143 km or 89 mi	El Ejido	$1157
148 km or 92 mi	Dos Hermanas	$1339
152 km or 94 mi	Jerez de la Frontera	$1008
154 km or 96 mi	Tetouan	$577
158 km or 98 mi	Seville	$1403
158 km or 98 mi	Chiclana de la Frontera	$1187
162 km or 101 mi	Tangier	$881
169 km or 105 mi	Linares	$1356
169 km or 105 mi	Cadiz	$1560
171 km or 106 mi	Ubeda	$1435
174 km or 108 mi	Rota	$1497
176 km or 109 mi	Almeria	$1345
196 km or 122 mi	Almonte	$1337
207 km or 129 mi	Melilla	$949
218 km or 135 mi	Nador	$538

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3220
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3053
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2963
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2933
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3033
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3040
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1295
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2948
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2995
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3243
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1141
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1138
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3261
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2995
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3245
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2976
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3251
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2927
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2676
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2963
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3070
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3030
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2758
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3085
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2815
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3513
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3122
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2621
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$968
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2669
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3544
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3027
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2980
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2554
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2767
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2697
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2804