Medellin vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Medellin	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$906	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2260	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$408	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$761	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$275	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$133	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$432	$5531
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	66	87
😀 Quality of life	53	91
🏙️ Population	2.53M	1.39M

The cost of living in Medellin is 74% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 6005th and 36th ($906 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 32nd in Colombia and the United States, respectively. Check Colombia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medellin compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Medellin ranked 2nd best city to live in Colombia vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 6049th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Medellin vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Medellin vs San Diego

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

	Medellin	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.13	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.21	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.02	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$1.92	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$439	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$312	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$851	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$618	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.3	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.5	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$22.9	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.16%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1715	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1447	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.79	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$41.1	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.5	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.01	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.12	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.3	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.33	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.44	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.8	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.62	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.12	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.83	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.41	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.41	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.4	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.85	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.28	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.3	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.57	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$64	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.4	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$292	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5682	$28706

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Medellin

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Envigado	$897
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Bello	$839
131 km or 82 mi	Manizales	$653
135 km or 84 mi	Quibdo	$705
160 km or 99 mi	Pereira	$680
171 km or 106 mi	Cartago	$649
179 km or 111 mi	Salento	$605
190 km or 118 mi	Armenia	$598
205 km or 127 mi	Ibague	$529
209 km or 130 mi	Facatativa	$674
212 km or 131 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1031
221 km or 137 mi	Zipaquira	$709
232 km or 144 mi	Girardot	$493
239 km or 148 mi	Soacha	$794
242 km or 150 mi	Turbo	$664
246 km or 153 mi	Bogota	$887
250 km or 155 mi	Tulua	$513
257 km or 160 mi	Tunja	$563
282 km or 175 mi	Monteria	$645
285 km or 177 mi	Duitama	$882
288 km or 179 mi	Bucaramanga	$657
289 km or 179 mi	Floridablanca	$648
298 km or 185 mi	Sogamoso	$534
308 km or 192 mi	Buenaventura	$742
312 km or 194 mi	Palmira	$666
318 km or 198 mi	Villavicencio	$497
329 km or 204 mi	Cali	$748
331 km or 206 mi	Ocana	$650
334 km or 208 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$669
340 km or 211 mi	Sincelejo	$524
346 km or 215 mi	Magangue	$604
367 km or 228 mi	Yopal	$722
370 km or 230 mi	Neiva	$557
386 km or 240 mi	Cucuta	$562
387 km or 241 mi	San Antonio del Tachira	$601
391 km or 243 mi	Rubio	$599
406 km or 252 mi	San Cristobal	$592
410 km or 255 mi	Tariba	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Popayan	$477
448 km or 279 mi	La Grita	$618

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