Riyadh vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Riyadh	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1628	$3486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3587	$7909
🏠 One person rent	$936	$2368
🏘️ Family rent	$1460	$4139
🍽️ Food expenses	$376	$735
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2284	$5217
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	21 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	70	86
😀 Quality of life	78	91
🏙️ Population	7.01M	1.39M

The cost of living in Riyadh is 53% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 3485th and 52nd ($1628 vs $3486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 39th in Saudi Arabia and the United States, respectively. Check Saudi Arabia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Riyadh compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Riyadh ranked 1st best city to live in Saudi Arabia vs San Diego ranked 38th in the United States, while ranked 899th and 155th among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in Riyadh vs San Diego

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

	Riyadh	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.94	$22.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.4	$84.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.02	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.72	$8.97
☕ Cappuccino	$4.14	$6.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.8	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$999	$2489
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$757	$2046
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1794	$4508
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1176	$3643
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$57.5	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87.5	$251
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$73.2	$71.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.52%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3071	$8050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1929	$6577
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.07	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.3	$71.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.9	$19.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.64	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.33	$4.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$3.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.79	$7.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.9	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$4.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$4.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.16	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$2.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$1.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.4	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.05	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.84	$3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.43	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.73	$15.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.27	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.37	$5.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.18	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$89.7	$72.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.1	$19.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.6	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.02	$30.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.2	$66.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$112	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$503	$1937
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10912	$22295

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$821
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$938
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$834
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$965
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1059
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$917
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$778
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1062
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1218
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1340
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1247
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$993
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$2100
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$2015
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1437
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$738
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$708
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$703
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$454
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$694
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$522
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$861
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$509
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$890
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$457
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$493
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1791
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$655
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1164
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$471
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$469
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$573
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$548
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$2133
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1031
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$505
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$670
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$873
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$494
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$459

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