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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Raleigh	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2265	$3957
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5273	$8247
🏠 One person rent	$1374	$2805
🏘️ Family rent	$2201	$4446
🍽️ Food expenses	$624	$765
🚐 Transport expenses	$89.7	$198
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4362	$6139
😷 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 43% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 1363rd and 8th ($2265 vs $3957) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1143rd 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 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Ranked 54th vs 25th best cities to live in the United States, and 219th vs 126th among the 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/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	$18.3	$24.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.7	$95
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.64	$9.09
☕ Cappuccino	$6.08	$5.96
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.82	$3.6
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1531	$3010
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1084	$2448
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2619	$4541
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1754	$4005
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$138	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$211	$259
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$63.1	$74.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.17%	6.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3898	$8786
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2197	$8977
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.42	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$47.7	$90
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.4	$24.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.81	$1.38
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$1.66
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.23	$4.78
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$4.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.61	$5.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$21.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.3	$21.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.38	$5.52
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.7	$5.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.76	$5.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.01	$3.55
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$3.1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.65	$3.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.96	$2.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.18	$11.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.2	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.45	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$6.96
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$2.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$111
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$17.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$128
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.7	$59.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$100
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1475	$1815
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24243	$23151

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	$2229
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2483
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1850
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2169
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2280
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2300
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2241
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2063
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2133
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2116
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1842
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2016
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1803
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1766
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2089
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2212
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2059
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1775
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2027
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2055
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2073
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2045
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1909
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2007
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2200
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1863
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2070
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2105
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2007
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1849
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2075
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2031
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1851
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1904
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$2003
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2295
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2375
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2129
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2204
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1729

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3460
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3625
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4184
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3368
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3217
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2928
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3345
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3387
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3194
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3808
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3172
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3616
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3234
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3356
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3357
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3075
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3728
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3582
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3357
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3486
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3073
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3029
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3698
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3577
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3588
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2822
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3088
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2822
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3797
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2968
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3043
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3310
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2848
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3276
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3873
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3261
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3559
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2088
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3252
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3273