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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Quito	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$882	$3952
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2247	$8290
🏠 One person rent	$363	$2795
🏘️ Family rent	$633	$4452
🍽️ Food expenses	$316	$775
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.6	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$485	$5915
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	62	87
😀 Quality of life	57	93
🏙️ Population	1.76M	1.01M

The cost of living in Quito is 78% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 6318th and 6th ($882 vs $3952) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 4th in Ecuador and the United States, respectively. Check Ecuador vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Quito compared to 1.5 months in San Jose, United States. Quito ranked 1st best city to live in Ecuador vs San Jose, United States ranked 21st in the United States, while ranked 6166th and 88th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Quito vs San Jose, United States infographic

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Prices in Quito vs San Jose, United States

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

	Quito	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.97	$20.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$35.2	$99.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.76	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$9.08
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$5.87
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.11	$3.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$410	$2999
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$292	$2438
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$744	$4520
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$533	$4008
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$19.2	$175
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$29.7	$272
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27.8	$70
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.16%	6.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1599	$10416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$888	$9325
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.9	$90.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.4	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.7	$1.27
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$1.5
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$5.04
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.4	$5.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.28	$22.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.22	$15.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.23	$23
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$6.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$2.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$5.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$6.69
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$4.3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$3.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.7	$1.88
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.31	$3.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.93	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.6	$2.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.06	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.98	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.02	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.61	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.75	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.9	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.01	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$45.5	$176
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.3	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.8	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$88.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$286	$1874
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9282	$22302

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Quito

Distance	City	Cost of living
74 km or 46 mi	Santo Domingo	$598
77 km or 48 mi	Ibarra	$585
114 km or 71 mi	Ambato	$542
138 km or 86 mi	Quevedo	$649
151 km or 94 mi	Ipiales	$604
163 km or 101 mi	Riobamba	$509
183 km or 114 mi	Esmeraldas	$606
210 km or 130 mi	Pasto	$608
210 km or 130 mi	Babahoyo	$841
227 km or 141 mi	Tumaco	$622
235 km or 146 mi	Portoviejo	$776
244 km or 152 mi	Milagro	$745
258 km or 161 mi	Manta	$859
262 km or 163 mi	Duran	$869
267 km or 166 mi	Guayaquil	$1006
303 km or 188 mi	Cuenca	$780
307 km or 191 mi	Montanita	$728
348 km or 216 mi	La Libertad	$712
364 km or 226 mi	Popayan	$572
376 km or 233 mi	Machala	$587
381 km or 237 mi	Florencia	$489
426 km or 265 mi	Loja	$601
430 km or 267 mi	Tumbes	$582
463 km or 288 mi	Cali	$759
484 km or 301 mi	Buenaventura	$782
484 km or 301 mi	Palmira	$693
501 km or 311 mi	Neiva	$565
516 km or 321 mi	Mancora	$656
543 km or 337 mi	Tulua	$511
574 km or 357 mi	Talara	$704
575 km or 357 mi	Sullana	$596
602 km or 374 mi	Piura	$648
610 km or 379 mi	Jaen	$609
611 km or 380 mi	Paita	$638
616 km or 383 mi	Armenia	$667
623 km or 387 mi	Cartago	$679
631 km or 392 mi	Salento	$655
635 km or 395 mi	Ibague	$506
641 km or 398 mi	Pereira	$730
650 km or 404 mi	Girardot	$515

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