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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Munich	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2463	$3952
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5699	$8290
🏠 One person rent	$1467	$2795
🏘️ Family rent	$2572	$4452
🍽️ Food expenses	$593	$775
🚐 Transport expenses	$237	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3954	$5915
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	90	87
😀 Quality of life	94	93
🏙️ Population	1.51M	1.01M

The cost of living in Munich is 38% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 920th and 6th ($2463 vs $3952) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Germany and the United States, respectively. Check Germany vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Munich compared to 1.5 months in San Jose, United States. Munich ranked 8th best city to live in Germany vs San Jose, United States ranked 21st in the United States, while ranked 61st and 88th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Munich vs San Jose, United States infographic

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Prices in Munich vs San Jose, United States

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

	Munich	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19.1	$20.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$80.9	$99.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.3	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.48	$9.08
☕ Cappuccino	$4.83	$5.87
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.05	$3.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1546	$2999
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1155	$2438
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2816	$4520
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2089	$4008
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$191	$175
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$294	$272
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.6	$70
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.03%	6.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$13232	$10416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9526	$9325
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.77	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$67.9	$90.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27.7	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.98	$1.27
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.43	$1.5
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.55	$5.04
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.05	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.32	$5.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.4	$22.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.5	$15.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.7	$23
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.82	$6.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$2.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$5.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.59	$6.69
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$4.3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$3.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$1.88
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.04	$3.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.4	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$2.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.75	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.33	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.71	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.4	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.6	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$80.8	$176
💇 Haircut, simple	$21.4	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$102	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$88.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$954	$1874
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14492	$22302

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Munich

Distance	City	Cost of living
16 km or 9.6 mi	Germering	$1966
16 km or 10 mi	Unterschleiheim	$1924
17 km or 10 mi	Puchheim	$1956
17 km or 11 mi	Dachau	$1934
20 km or 13 mi	Olching	$1905
23 km or 15 mi	Starnberg	$1901
24 km or 15 mi	Furstenfeldbruck	$1876
31 km or 19 mi	Erding	$1731
31 km or 19 mi	Geretsried	$1842
32 km or 20 mi	Freising	$1757
44 km or 28 mi	Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm	$1725
47 km or 29 mi	Weilheim in Oberbayern	$1854
48 km or 30 mi	Aichach	$1784
50 km or 31 mi	Friedberg	$1841
52 km or 32 mi	Rosenheim	$1298
53 km or 33 mi	Konigsbrunn	$1826
53 km or 33 mi	Landsberg am Lech	$1790
57 km or 35 mi	Augsburg	$1954
61 km or 38 mi	Gersthofen	$1848
62 km or 38 mi	Landshut	$1745
62 km or 38 mi	Waldkraiburg	$1664
62 km or 39 mi	Neusa	$1851
71 km or 44 mi	Ingolstadt	$1659
71 km or 44 mi	Muhldorf	$1655
72 km or 45 mi	Neuburg an der Donau	$1671
76 km or 48 mi	Kaufbeuren	$1807
77 km or 48 mi	Traunreut	$1597
80 km or 50 mi	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	$2083
85 km or 53 mi	Traunstein	$1585
87 km or 54 mi	Donauworth	$1697
98 km or 61 mi	Innsbruck	$1917
103 km or 64 mi	Gunzburg	$1675
104 km or 65 mi	Kempten	$1706
105 km or 65 mi	Regensburg	$1720
105 km or 65 mi	Memmingen	$1725
110 km or 69 mi	Straubing	$1654
112 km or 70 mi	Nordlingen	$1657
114 km or 71 mi	Senden	$1654
116 km or 72 mi	Salzburg	$1904
119 km or 74 mi	Sonthofen	$1730

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3424
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3476
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4335
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3356
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3202
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2942
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3426
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3415
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3182
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3765
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3130
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3328
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3133
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3333
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3359
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3045
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3890
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3719
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3382
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3462
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$2955
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3089
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3748
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3553
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3634
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2826
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3070
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2810
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3756
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2957
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3071
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3317
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2850
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3285
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3818
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3230
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3255
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2114
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3227
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3254