Phuket vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Phuket	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1014	$3469
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2500	$7890
🏠 One person rent	$544	$2370
🏘️ Family rent	$932	$4148
🍽️ Food expenses	$335	$726
🚐 Transport expenses	$32.8	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$944	$5254
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	7	86
😀 Quality of life	57	93
🏙️ Population	77.6K	1.39M

The cost of living in Phuket is 71% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 5469th and 43rd ($1014 vs $3469) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 33rd 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 0.9 months in Phuket compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Phuket ranked 5th best city to live in Thailand vs San Diego ranked 26th in the United States, while ranked 6129th and 97th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Phuket vs San Diego infographic

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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	$6.11	$21.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$41.4	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.29	$15.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.15	$8.63
☕ Cappuccino	$3.04	$6.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.74	$3.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$595	$2499
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$419	$2053
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1073	$4569
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$738	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.6	$156
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$109	$240
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.7	$71
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.28%	6.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4256	$9580
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2916	$7151
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.45	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.4	$71
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.1	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.31	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.11	$1.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.67	$3.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$3.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.23	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$15.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$20.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.83	$4.5
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.97	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$4.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$2.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$2.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$1.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.52	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$21.4	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.83	$2.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.3	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.35	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.43	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.34	$5.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.44	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.8	$63.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.54	$17.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.6	$30.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$65.3	$60.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$612	$1745
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14328	$28967

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	$773
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$854
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$807
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$593
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$810
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$756
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$592
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$592
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$741
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$570
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$765
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$509
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$423
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$754
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$701
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$449
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$552
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$386
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$657
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$466
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$460
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$553
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$724
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$787
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$812
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$704
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$681
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$763
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$708
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$731
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$779
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$866

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782