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

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Raleigh	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2317	$3962
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5372	$8268
🏠 One person rent	$1430	$2809
🏘️ Family rent	$2327	$4461
🍽️ Food expenses	$612	$768
🚐 Transport expenses	$90.3	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4411	$5742
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	82	87
😀 Quality of life	89	91
🏙️ Population	468K	1.01M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 42% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 1246th and 8th ($2317 vs $3962) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1054th and 5th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Raleigh compared to 1.4 months in San Jose, United States. Ranked 64th vs 31st best cities to live in the United States, and 245th vs 148th among the 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/raleigh/san-jose-us.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Raleigh vs San Jose, United States infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/raleigh/san-jose-us" target="_blank">Raleigh vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Raleigh vs San Jose, United States

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

	Raleigh	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.5	$100
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.67	$9
☕ Cappuccino	$6.02	$5.63
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.48	$3.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1562	$3015
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1149	$2454
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$4507
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1919	$4037
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$207	$256
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.1	$74.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	6.44%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3603	$9481
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2208	$9796
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.68	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$48.1	$89.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.3	$21.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.97	$1.57
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.39	$4.69
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$3.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.45	$5.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$20.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.8	$22.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.47	$6.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.98	$5.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.45	$5.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$3.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$3.62
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1.82
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.63	$3.29
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15	$15.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$2.52
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.71	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.6	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$6.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$2.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.2	$130
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$16.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$137	$150
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$20.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.3	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$97.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1374	$1802
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24650	$23160

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2246
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2470
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1831
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2194
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2278
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2313
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2242
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2109
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2308
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2111
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1943
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2003
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1780
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1773
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2123
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2159
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2081
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1750
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2036
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2056
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2088
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2057
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1917
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2030
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2202
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1987
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2079
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2122
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2001
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1847
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2080
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2027
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1814
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1963
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1969
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2211
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2378
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2126
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2174
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1736

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3488
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3608
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4273
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3379
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3257
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2871
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3508
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3603
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3254
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3805
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3181
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3589
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3261
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3382
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3395
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3137
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3771
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3489
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3359
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3520
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3017
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3065
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3676
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3593
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3604
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2910
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3094
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2802
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3831
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2983
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3007
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3346
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2859
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3282
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3778
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3264
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3277
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2089
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3245
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3212