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

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Nairobi	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$745	$3674
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2030	$8354
🏠 One person rent	$269	$2553
🏘️ Family rent	$619	$4614
🍽️ Food expenses	$254	$756
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$175
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$394	$6972
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	67	87
😀 Quality of life	57	93
🏙️ Population	5.55M	1.01M

The cost of living in Nairobi is 80% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 6689th and 13th ($745 vs $3674) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 11th in Kenya and the United States, respectively. Check Kenya vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Nairobi compared to 1.9 months in San Jose, United States. Nairobi ranked 1st best city to live in Kenya vs San Jose, United States ranked 9th in the United States, while ranked 5632nd and 57th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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Prices in Nairobi vs San Jose, United States

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

	Nairobi	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.67	$25.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.2	$99.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.77	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.2	$9.02
☕ Cappuccino	$2.41	$6.07
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.65	$3.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$366	$2518
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$164	$2244
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1021	$4974
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$420	$4085
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$25.1	$178
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$38.8	$275
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$76.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.58%	6.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1536	$11099
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1125	$11117
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.78	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.5	$90.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.62	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.91	$1.34
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.48	$4.64
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$3.84
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.84	$4.98
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.9	$15.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.43	$14.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.2	$21.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.83	$5.87
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$1.76
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$3.56
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$6.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.08	$3.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.16	$3.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.47	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.45	$2.55
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.3	$15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.1	$2.11
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.93	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.2	$9.28
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.95	$4.62
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.2	$2.28
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.9	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.09	$15.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$23.2	$151
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.57	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.2	$48.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$58.6	$83.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$168	$1894
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8325	$23974

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$571
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$482
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$493
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$535
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$543
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$548
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$460
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$518
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$483
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$581
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$583
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$502
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$560
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$511
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$466
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$601
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$643
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$707
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$559
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$564
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$675
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$736
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$639
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$722
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$579
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$509
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$622
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$723
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$509
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$568
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$545
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$784
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$598
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$509
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$441
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$510
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$509
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$576
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$579
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$768

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3322
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3417
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4181
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3147
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3083
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2799
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3305
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3220
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3085
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3610
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3094
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3159
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3010
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3228
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3288
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$2986
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3584
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3433
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3442
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3578
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3118
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3085
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3527
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3804
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3473
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2981
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3091
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2802
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3672
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2931
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3023
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3293
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2851
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3224
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$2922
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3196
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3274
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2250
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3170
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3146