Milwaukee vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Milwaukee	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2046	$3469
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5001	$7890
🏠 One person rent	$1179	$2370
🏘️ Family rent	$1923	$4148
🍽️ Food expenses	$577	$726
🚐 Transport expenses	$118	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3707	$5254
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	82	86
😀 Quality of life	91	93
🏙️ Population	577K	1.39M

The cost of living in Milwaukee is 41% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 1864th and 43rd ($2046 vs $3469) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1525th and 33rd in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Milwaukee compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Ranked 55th vs 26th best cities to live in the United States, and 195th vs 97th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Milwaukee vs San Diego

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

	Milwaukee	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.5	$21.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.2	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.1	$15.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.38	$8.63
☕ Cappuccino	$4.96	$6.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3	$3.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1315	$2499
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$935	$2053
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2336	$4569
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1539	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$107	$156
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$163	$240
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$61.5	$71
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.41%	6.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1953	$9580
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1705	$7151
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.99	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.6	$71
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.84	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.85	$1.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.09	$3.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.75	$3.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.51	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$15.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.8	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.3	$20.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.15	$4.5
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.09	$4.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$2.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.15	$2.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.54	$1.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.35	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.6	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.67	$2.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.3	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.28	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.36	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.55	$5.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.86	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.5	$63.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$17.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$165	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$17	$30.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.6	$60.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$79.6	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1808	$1745
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23971	$28967

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Milwaukee

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.6 km or 3.5 mi	West Allis	$1915
6.3 km or 3.9 mi	Wauwatosa	$1973
10 km or 6.4 mi	Greenfield	$1915
13 km or 8.3 mi	Brookfield	$1915
15 km or 9.4 mi	New Berlin	$1904
17 km or 11 mi	South Milwaukee	$1973
17 km or 11 mi	Menomonee Falls	$1943
17 km or 11 mi	Franklin	$1948
19 km or 12 mi	Oak Creek	$1966
19 km or 12 mi	Mequon	$1964
22 km or 14 mi	Muskego	$1919
23 km or 14 mi	Waukesha	$1785
27 km or 17 mi	Caledonia	$1973
37 km or 23 mi	Mount Pleasant	$2039
38 km or 24 mi	Racine	$2032
46 km or 28 mi	West Bend	$1941
53 km or 33 mi	Kenosha	$2030
57 km or 36 mi	Pleasant Prairie	$2089
64 km or 40 mi	Watertown	$1957
67 km or 42 mi	Zion	$2381
74 km or 46 mi	Fort Atkinson	$1826
76 km or 47 mi	Round Lake Beach	$2355
76 km or 47 mi	Gurnee	$2368
77 km or 48 mi	Waukegan	$2375
78 km or 49 mi	Grayslake	$2340
80 km or 50 mi	Sheboygan	$1763
81 km or 51 mi	North Chicago	$2368
84 km or 52 mi	McHenry	$2394
85 km or 53 mi	Libertyville	$2434
87 km or 54 mi	Mundelein	$2119
90 km or 56 mi	Fond du Lac	$1849
91 km or 57 mi	Woodstock	$2220
91 km or 57 mi	Vernon Hills	$2373
96 km or 60 mi	Janesville	$1789
97 km or 60 mi	Crystal Lake	$2528
97 km or 60 mi	Highland Park	$2392
98 km or 61 mi	Buffalo Grove	$2412
101 km or 63 mi	Lake in the Hills	$2508
102 km or 63 mi	Wheeling	$2426
103 km or 64 mi	Northbrook	$2399

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782