Phuket vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Phuket	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1059	$3507
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2644	$7962
🏠 One person rent	$573	$2395
🏘️ Family rent	$1004	$4150
🍽️ Food expenses	$352	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$34.3	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$801	$5553
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	8	86
😀 Quality of life	56	91
🏙️ Population	77.6K	1.39M

The cost of living in Phuket is 70% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 5233rd and 50th ($1059 vs $3507) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 38th in Thailand and the United States, respectively. Check Thailand vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.8 months in Phuket compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Phuket ranked 8th best city to live in Thailand vs San Diego ranked 26th in the United States, while ranked 6325th and 137th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Phuket vs San Diego

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

	Phuket	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.74	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$47.4	$86.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.77	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.26	$8.74
☕ Cappuccino	$3.26	$6.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.78	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$632	$2519
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$446	$2068
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1154	$4514
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$805	$3653
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$70.1	$165
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$253
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$19.5	$71.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.58%	6.5%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4350	$8566
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3066	$6843
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.55	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.7	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.8	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.04	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$3.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$3.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.5	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$13.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$20.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.19	$4.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$4.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$4.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$2.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$2.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$1.61
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.41	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$20.8	$16.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.9	$2.8
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.71	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.45	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.5	$9.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.38	$5.5
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.51	$2.48
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.5	$62.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.3	$18.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$30.1	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$30.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$68	$63
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.9	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$652	$1998
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16566	$26517

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$808
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$891
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$846
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$612
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$834
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$790
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$634
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$622
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$782
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$628
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$805
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$845
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$564
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$438
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$663
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$792
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$740
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$451
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$572
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$551
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$696
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$461
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$458
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$562
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$701
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$784
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$470
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$485
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$572
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$846
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$874
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$762
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$750
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$764
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$763
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$813
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$838
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$981

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3220
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3053
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2963
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2933
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3033
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3040
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1295
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2948
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2995
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3243
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1141
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1138
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3261
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2995
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3245
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2976
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3251
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2927
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2676
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2963
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3070
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3030
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2758
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3085
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2815
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3513
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3122
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2621
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$968
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2669
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3544
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3027
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2980
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2554
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2767
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2697
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2804