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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Mesa	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2293	$3957
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5392	$8247
🏠 One person rent	$1358	$2805
🏘️ Family rent	$2389	$4446
🍽️ Food expenses	$688	$765
🚐 Transport expenses	$87.1	$198
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4087	$6139
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	68	87
😀 Quality of life	88	91
🏙️ Population	504K	1.01M

The cost of living in Mesa is 42% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 1311th and 8th ($2293 vs $3957) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1104th and 5th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Mesa compared to 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Ranked 93rd vs 25th best cities to live in the United States, and 304th vs 126th among the best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/mesa/san-jose-us.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Mesa vs San Jose, United States infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/mesa/san-jose-us" target="_blank">Mesa vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Mesa vs San Jose, United States

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

	Mesa	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$20	$24.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.3	$95
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.4	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6	$9.09
☕ Cappuccino	$5.93	$5.96
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$3.6
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1336	$3010
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1077	$2448
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2471	$4541
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1979	$4005
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$233	$259
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$78.1	$74.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.11%	6.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2959	$8786
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3476	$8977
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.02	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.1	$90
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.7	$24.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.38
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.9	$1.66
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.64	$4.78
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.03	$4.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.69	$5.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$21.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.2	$21.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.52	$5.52
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.92	$2.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.49	$5.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.11	$5.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.31	$3.55
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.23	$3.1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.44	$3.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.6	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.45	$2.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$11.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.98	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.26	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.23	$6.96
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.09	$2.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$111
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13	$17.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$112	$128
💇 Haircut, simple	$21.1	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$53.9	$59.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$100
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1190	$1815
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15526	$23151

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Mesa

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Gilbert	$2378
10 km or 6.5 mi	Tempe	$2463
12 km or 7.7 mi	Scottsdale	$2509
12 km or 7.7 mi	Chandler	$2367
23 km or 14 mi	Fountain Hills	$2373
25 km or 15 mi	Queen Creek	$2988
26 km or 16 mi	Phoenix	$2423
26 km or 16 mi	Apache Junction	$2482
39 km or 24 mi	Glendale	$1974
42 km or 26 mi	Peoria	$2366
45 km or 28 mi	Maricopa	$2243
48 km or 30 mi	Avondale	$2365
49 km or 30 mi	Goodyear	$2343
51 km or 31 mi	El Mirage	$2296
55 km or 34 mi	Surprise	$2346
59 km or 37 mi	Florence	$2454
59 km or 37 mi	Casa Grande	$2374
71 km or 44 mi	Buckeye	$2318
132 km or 82 mi	Marana	$2089
136 km or 85 mi	Oro Valley	$2060
138 km or 86 mi	Prescott	$2321
140 km or 87 mi	Prescott Valley	$2312
141 km or 88 mi	Casas Adobes	$2011
157 km or 98 mi	Tucson	$1933
183 km or 114 mi	Sahuarita	$2070
199 km or 124 mi	Flagstaff	$2573
244 km or 152 mi	Nogales	$2153
247 km or 154 mi	Nogales	$771
254 km or 158 mi	Sierra Vista	$1654
257 km or 160 mi	Blythe	$2818
258 km or 160 mi	Lake Havasu	$2011
272 km or 169 mi	Yuma	$1767
283 km or 176 mi	Kingman	$1865
292 km or 182 mi	San Luis	$1924
293 km or 182 mi	San Luis Rio Colorado	$950
301 km or 187 mi	Caborca	$876
316 km or 196 mi	Agua Prieta	$863
316 km or 196 mi	Bullhead	$1835
348 km or 216 mi	Brawley	$2817
349 km or 217 mi	Mexicali	$994

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3460
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3625
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4184
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3368
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3217
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2928
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3345
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3387
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3194
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3808
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3172
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3616
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3234
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3356
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3357
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3075
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3728
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3582
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3357
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3486
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3073
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3029
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3698
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3577
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3588
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2822
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3088
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2822
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3797
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2968
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3043
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3310
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2848
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3276
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3873
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3261
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3559
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2088
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3252
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3273