Mexico City vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Mexico City	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1160	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2923	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$603	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$1214	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$374	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.2	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$709	$5531
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	92	87
😀 Quality of life	67	91
🏙️ Population	9.21M	1.39M

The cost of living in Mexico City is 66% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 4604th and 36th ($1160 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 7th and 32nd in Mexico and the United States, respectively. Check Mexico vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Mexico City compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Mexico City ranked 1st best city to live in Mexico vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 3470th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Mexico City vs San Diego infographic

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

Prices in Mexico City vs San Diego

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

	Mexico City	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.1	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.5	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.02	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.84	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$3.69	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$846	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$475	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1732	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$998	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$27.8	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$42.3	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.7	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.34%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2952	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2197	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.29	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$19.9	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.96	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.21	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.45	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.11	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.43	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.12	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.41	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.59	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.97	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.61	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.8	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.4	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.89	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.17	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.39	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.79	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.96	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.6	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.97	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$45	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$53.2	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.8	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$401	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9034	$28706

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Mexico City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7.1 mi	Naucalpan	$800
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tlalnepantla	$741
17 km or 10 mi	Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl	$814
19 km or 12 mi	Ciudad Lopez Mateos	$849
22 km or 14 mi	Ecatepec de Morelos	$704
25 km or 16 mi	Tultitlan de Mariano Escobedo	$770
25 km or 16 mi	Chicoloapan de Juarez	$828
26 km or 16 mi	Cuautitlan Izcalli	$742
29 km or 18 mi	Texcoco de Mora	$787
30 km or 19 mi	Tultepec	$747
31 km or 19 mi	Chalco de Diaz Covarrubias	$820
42 km or 26 mi	Zumpango	$761
55 km or 34 mi	Toluca	$696
56 km or 35 mi	Cuernavaca	$745
60 km or 37 mi	Jiutepec	$752
70 km or 44 mi	Cuautla	$858
89 km or 55 mi	Pachuca	$632
93 km or 58 mi	Atlixco	$825
105 km or 65 mi	San Jose Villa de Allende	$760
106 km or 66 mi	Puebla	$981
107 km or 67 mi	Taxco	$788
126 km or 79 mi	Iguala	$821
140 km or 87 mi	San Juan del Rio	$826
184 km or 114 mi	Queretaro	$983
192 km or 119 mi	Teziutlan	$770
211 km or 131 mi	Chilpancingo	$608
213 km or 132 mi	Tehuacan	$485
214 km or 133 mi	Celaya	$638
216 km or 134 mi	Poza Rica	$635
217 km or 135 mi	Morelia	$717
224 km or 139 mi	Cortazar	$693
224 km or 139 mi	Orizaba	$724
225 km or 140 mi	Yuriria	$725
229 km or 143 mi	Coatepec	$700
234 km or 145 mi	Xalapa	$574
236 km or 146 mi	San Miguel de Allende	$1139
239 km or 149 mi	Cordoba	$759
250 km or 155 mi	Salamanca	$634
269 km or 167 mi	Irapuato	$667
281 km or 174 mi	Zacapu	$804

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