Phuket vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Phuket	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1010	$3486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2467	$7909
🏠 One person rent	$555	$2368
🏘️ Family rent	$956	$4139
🍽️ Food expenses	$325	$735
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.5	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$512	$5217
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	8	86
😀 Quality of life	55	91
🏙️ Population	77.6K	1.39M

The cost of living in Phuket is 71% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 5497th and 52nd ($1010 vs $3486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 39th 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 0.5 months in Phuket compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Phuket ranked 9th best city to live in Thailand vs San Diego ranked 38th in the United States, while ranked 6330th and 155th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$5.76	$22.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.6	$84.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.13	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.46	$8.97
☕ Cappuccino	$2.93	$6.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.73	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$650	$2489
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$429	$2046
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1157	$4508
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$761	$3643
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.2	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$96.7	$251
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$19	$71.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.61%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3728	$8050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2603	$6577
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.53	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$71.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.6	$19.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.39	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.74	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.51	$4.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$3.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.19	$7.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.8	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.02	$4.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$4.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$2.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$1.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.36	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.1	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.87	$3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.4	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.35	$15.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.44	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.33	$5.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.44	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.5	$72.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.75	$19.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.2	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.56	$30.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.9	$66.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.7	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$565	$1937
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13979	$22295

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	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992

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