Reykjavik vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Reykjavik	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3205	$3486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6762	$7909
🏠 One person rent	$1954	$2368
🏘️ Family rent	$2956	$4139
🍽️ Food expenses	$904	$735
🚐 Transport expenses	$100	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4423	$5217
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	53	86
😀 Quality of life	88	91
🏙️ Population	139K	1.39M

The cost of living in Reykjavik is 8% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 119th and 52nd ($3205 vs $3486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 39th in Iceland and the United States, respectively. Check Iceland vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Reykjavik compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Reykjavik ranked 1st best city to live in Iceland vs San Diego ranked 38th in the United States, while ranked 258th and 155th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/reykjavik/san-diego.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Reykjavik vs San Diego infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/reykjavik/san-diego" target="_blank">Reykjavik vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Reykjavik vs San Diego

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

	Reykjavik	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$28.3	$22.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$97.9	$84.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$20	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$13.4	$8.97
☕ Cappuccino	$6.5	$6.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.26	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2129	$2489
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1743	$2046
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3328	$4508
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2660	$3643
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$52.2	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$80.3	$251
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$82	$71.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.69%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7748	$8050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6175	$6577
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$5.38	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$90.3	$71.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$28.9	$19.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.12	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.04	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.21	$4.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.46	$3.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.99	$7.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.2	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$24.8	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$44.1	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.41	$4.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.17	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.99	$4.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.65	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$2.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.16	$1.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$23.2	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.72	$3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.5	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.6	$15.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.76	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.18	$5.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.63	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$90.3	$72.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$19.2	$19.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$92.8	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$47.2	$30.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$146	$66.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$178	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$472	$1937
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$30029	$22295

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Reykjavik

Distance	City	Cost of living
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	Kopavogur	$3092
9.8 km or 6.1 mi	Hafnarfjorur	$3106
38 km or 24 mi	Keflavik	$2581
247 km or 153 mi	Akureyri	$2921
795 km or 494 mi	Torshavn	$2017
1204 km or 748 mi	Inverness	$2005
1230 km or 764 mi	Elgin	$1523
1300 km or 808 mi	Derry	$1646
1309 km or 813 mi	Greenock	$1647
1321 km or 821 mi	Aberdeen	$1806
1325 km or 823 mi	Perth	$1640
1328 km or 825 mi	Stirling	$1835
1331 km or 827 mi	Paisley	$1885
1333 km or 828 mi	Alloa	$1842
1337 km or 831 mi	Glasgow	$2114
1339 km or 832 mi	Dundee	$1593
1340 km or 833 mi	Omagh	$1763
1341 km or 833 mi	Cumbernauld	$1611
1342 km or 834 mi	Irvine	$1704
1348 km or 838 mi	East Kilbride	$1878
1349 km or 838 mi	Kilmarnock	$1600
1351 km or 839 mi	Dunfermline	$1750
1353 km or 841 mi	Hamilton	$1831
1357 km or 843 mi	Ayr	$1586
1360 km or 845 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1794
1365 km or 848 mi	Livingston	$1760
1372 km or 852 mi	Edinburgh	$2295
1382 km or 859 mi	Newtownabbey	$1820
1387 km or 862 mi	Belfast	$1878
1390 km or 864 mi	Bangor	$1485
1391 km or 864 mi	Lisburn	$1923
1401 km or 871 mi	Alesund	$2021
1413 km or 878 mi	Galway	$3003
1425 km or 886 mi	Dundalk	$2264
1431 km or 889 mi	Dumfries	$1456
1433 km or 891 mi	Nuuk	$2508
1441 km or 895 mi	Molde	$2101
1454 km or 903 mi	Kristiansund	$1944
1455 km or 904 mi	Drogheda	$2518
1455 km or 904 mi	Bergen	$2336

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