Melbourne vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Melbourne	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2397	$3346
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5694	$7719
🏠 One person rent	$1344	$2248
🏘️ Family rent	$2215	$4052
🍽️ Food expenses	$557	$722
🚐 Transport expenses	$345	$185
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4357	$5772
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	100	87
😀 Quality of life	100	92
🏙️ Population	5.03M	1.39M

The cost of living in Melbourne is 28% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 923rd and 45th ($2397 vs $3346) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 36th in Australia and the United States, respectively. Check Australia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Melbourne compared to 1.7 months in San Diego. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs San Diego ranked 12th in the United States, while ranked 1st and 75th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Melbourne vs San Diego infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/melbourne/san-diego.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Melbourne vs San Diego infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/melbourne/san-diego" target="_blank">Melbourne vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Melbourne vs San Diego

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

	Melbourne	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.4	$20.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$62.1	$85.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$12.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.61	$8.25
☕ Cappuccino	$3.66	$5.51
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.82	$2.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1361	$2399
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1146	$1894
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2752	$4351
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1818	$3534
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$101	$184
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$286
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54	$69.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.33%	6.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7512	$9294
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5768	$7063
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.66	$2.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$126	$72.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.4	$20.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.38
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.47	$1.16
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.64	$3.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$3.91
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.36	$4.72
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$15
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.57	$14.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.43	$4.96
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.79	$1.69
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.65	$3.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$5.11
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$2.54
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.19	$2.34
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.98	$1.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.61	$3.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$18.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.74	$3.1
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26.8	$11.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.82	$16.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.97	$10.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.51	$5.94
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4	$2.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52.8	$72.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.4	$18
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.2	$132
💇 Haircut, simple	$23.1	$28
👖 Brand Jeans	$81.3	$56.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$99.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1974	$1752
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21306	$21468

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1758
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1767
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1757
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1876
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1822
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1795
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1799
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1800
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1738
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1805
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$1892
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1357
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1397
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1829
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1717
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1697
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1788
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1628
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1900
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1746
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1798
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2393
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1816
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1748
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2265
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1500
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1674
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1532
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2246
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1732
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1815
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2472
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$1997
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2801
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2286
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1833
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2013
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1661
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1289
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1913

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$2973
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$2877
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2783
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2893
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2775
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2786
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2821
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2936
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1050
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2799
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2765
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$2853
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$922
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$922
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$2795
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2718
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$2997
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2783
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$2926
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2767
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2579
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2886
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3006
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2828
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2650
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$2842
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2717
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3001
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$2928
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2587
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$912
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2654
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3444
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3035
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2950
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3330
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$3047
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2789
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2595
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2647