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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Reykjavik	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2938	$3810
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5875	$8485
🏠 One person rent	$1801	$2688
🏘️ Family rent	$2674	$4744
🍽️ Food expenses	$827	$759
🚐 Transport expenses	$90.1	$175
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3761	$6191
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	53	87
😀 Quality of life	89	92
🏙️ Population	140K	1.01M

The cost of living in Reykjavik is 23% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 200th and 8th ($2938 vs $3810) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th 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 1.3 months in Reykjavik compared to 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Reykjavik ranked 1st best city to live in Iceland vs San Jose, United States ranked 11th in the United States, while ranked 194th and 82nd among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in Reykjavik vs San Jose, United States

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

	Reykjavik	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.5	$21
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$137	$100
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$17.9	$10.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$8.92
☕ Cappuccino	$5.37	$5.89
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.09	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1839	$2643
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1650	$2388
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2869	$5083
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2456	$4230
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$42.1	$179
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.6	$274
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71.4	$69.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.41%	6.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6649	$9512
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5599	$9578
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.52	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$75.8	$90.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.4	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.23	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.66	$1.33
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.74	$4.73
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.24	$3.45
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.94	$5.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.8	$19.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.9	$16.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$37	$19.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$6.55
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$2.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$3.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.73	$6.42
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$3.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.93
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.69	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$21.6	$14.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.26	$2.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.3	$11.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.23	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.55	$7.05
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.2	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$73.2	$129
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.9	$14.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$82.2	$149
💇 Haircut, simple	$45.6	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$128	$48.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$162	$77.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$279	$1805
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2532	$25839

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	$2802
9.8 km or 6.1 mi	Hafnarfjorur	$2817
38 km or 24 mi	Keflavik	$2355
247 km or 153 mi	Akureyri	$2678
795 km or 494 mi	Torshavn	$1828
1204 km or 748 mi	Inverness	$1722
1230 km or 764 mi	Elgin	$1393
1300 km or 808 mi	Derry	$1390
1309 km or 813 mi	Greenock	$1601
1321 km or 821 mi	Aberdeen	$1614
1325 km or 823 mi	Perth	$1500
1328 km or 825 mi	Stirling	$1604
1331 km or 827 mi	Paisley	$1765
1333 km or 828 mi	Alloa	$1649
1337 km or 831 mi	Glasgow	$2011
1339 km or 832 mi	Dundee	$1482
1340 km or 833 mi	Omagh	$1562
1341 km or 833 mi	Cumbernauld	$1475
1342 km or 834 mi	Irvine	$1551
1348 km or 838 mi	East Kilbride	$1763
1349 km or 838 mi	Kilmarnock	$1480
1351 km or 839 mi	Dunfermline	$1692
1353 km or 841 mi	Hamilton	$1699
1357 km or 843 mi	Ayr	$1404
1360 km or 845 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1610
1365 km or 848 mi	Livingston	$1608
1372 km or 852 mi	Edinburgh	$2140
1382 km or 859 mi	Newtownabbey	$1692
1387 km or 862 mi	Belfast	$1755
1390 km or 864 mi	Bangor	$1382
1391 km or 864 mi	Lisburn	$1713
1401 km or 871 mi	Alesund	$1603
1413 km or 878 mi	Galway	$2297
1425 km or 886 mi	Dundalk	$1767
1431 km or 889 mi	Dumfries	$1246
1433 km or 891 mi	Nuuk	$2031
1441 km or 895 mi	Molde	$1813
1454 km or 903 mi	Kristiansund	$1700
1455 km or 904 mi	Drogheda	$2628
1455 km or 904 mi	Bergen	$2006

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3362
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3419
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4167
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3287
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3131
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2828
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3448
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3295
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3159
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3752
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3090
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3187
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3060
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3286
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3326
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3002
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3649
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3412
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3344
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3448
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3006
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3096
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3437
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3657
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3466
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2811
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3059
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2747
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3678
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$3041
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$2963
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$3045
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3226
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3785
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3195
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3364
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2135
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3185
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$2968