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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Ottawa	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2096	$3952
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4619	$8290
🏠 One person rent	$1231	$2795
🏘️ Family rent	$1937	$4452
🍽️ Food expenses	$576	$775
🚐 Transport expenses	$166	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3333	$5915
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	50	87
😀 Quality of life	92	93
🏙️ Population	1.02M	1.01M

The cost of living in Ottawa is 47% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 1744th and 6th ($2096 vs $3952) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 4th in Canada and the United States, respectively. Check Canada vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Ottawa compared to 1.5 months in San Jose, United States. Ottawa ranked 11th best city to live in Canada vs San Jose, United States ranked 21st in the United States, while ranked 129th and 88th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Ottawa vs San Jose, United States 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/ottawa/san-jose-us.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Ottawa vs San Jose, United States infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/ottawa/san-jose-us" target="_blank">Ottawa vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Ottawa vs San Jose, United States

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

	Ottawa	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.1	$20.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$63.6	$99.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.8	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.52	$9.08
☕ Cappuccino	$3.81	$5.87
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2	$3.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1295	$2999
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1036	$2438
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2109	$4520
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1647	$4008
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.9	$175
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$272
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$47.4	$70
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.23%	6.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4937	$10416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3196	$9325
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.84	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$95.2	$90.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.2	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.04	$1.27
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.35	$1.5
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.55	$5.04
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.53	$5.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$22.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$15.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.1	$23
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.9	$6.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$2.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.6	$5.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.88	$6.69
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.59	$4.3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.16	$3.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$1.88
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.77	$3.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.61	$2.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.9	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.6	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.9	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.4	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.7	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66	$176
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.4	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89	$88.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$783	$1874
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15527	$22302

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Ottawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Gatineau	$1802
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2166
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1660
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$1836
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1935
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1782
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1850
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1753
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1806
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1835
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1780
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1785
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1838
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1763
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1829
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1437
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1822
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1853
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1867
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$1930
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1719
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1835
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1820
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1649
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1805
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1814
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1864
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1903
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1766
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1828
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1892
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1842
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1911
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2055
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1820
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1767
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1786
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1671
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1869
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1822

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