New York City vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	New York City	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4202	$3486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$9189	$7909
🏠 One person rent	$2718	$2368
🏘️ Family rent	$4417	$4139
🍽️ Food expenses	$842	$735
🚐 Transport expenses	$400	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5389	$5217
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	100	86
😀 Quality of life	95	91
🏙️ Population	8.8M	1.39M

The cost of living in New York City is 21% more expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 4th and 52nd ($4202 vs $3486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 39th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in New York City compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Ranked 2nd vs 38th best cities to live in the United States, and 15th vs 155th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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

Prices in New York City vs San Diego

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

	New York City	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22.6	$22.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90	$84.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.4	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.3	$8.97
☕ Cappuccino	$6.22	$6.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.28	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3692	$2489
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2206	$2046
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5140	$4508
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3874	$3643
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$218	$251
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$70.6	$71.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.31%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$18073	$8050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7831	$6577
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.01	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$138	$71.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27	$19.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.44	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.07	$4.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.67	$3.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.75	$7.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.6	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.5	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.3	$4.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.79	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.72	$4.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.21	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.96	$2.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$1.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.57	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.7	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.61	$3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.5	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$23.4	$15.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$14	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$8.02	$5.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.86	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$132	$72.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$21.7	$19.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$159	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$40.5	$30.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.1	$66.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2095	$1937
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21713	$22295

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3269
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3094
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$3023
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$3033
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2997
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2984
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3065
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3077
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1276
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2956
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$3012
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3265
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1126
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1108
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3274
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$3008
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$3011
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3221
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2984
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2690
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2994
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3137
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3051
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2799
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3075
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2850
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3492
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3129
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2646
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$967
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2663
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3520
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3064
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2984
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3503
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2598
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2768
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2738
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2826