San Diego vs Tainan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Diego	Tainan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3469	$894
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7890	$2330
🏠 One person rent	$2370	$263
🏘️ Family rent	$4148	$440
🍽️ Food expenses	$726	$430
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$81.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5254	$1477
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	86	74
😀 Quality of life	93	83
🏙️ Population	1.39M	1.87M

The cost of living in San Diego is 288% more expensive than in Tainan. Cities ranked 43rd and 6262nd ($3469 vs $894) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 33rd and 12th in the United States and Taiwan, respectively. Check the United States vs Taiwan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in San Diego compared to 1.7 months in Tainan. San Diego ranked 26th best city to live in the United States vs Tainan ranked 8th in Taiwan, while ranked 97th and 549th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in San Diego vs Tainan infographic

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Prices in San Diego vs Tainan

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

	San Diego	Tainan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.5	$6.54
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.1	$26
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.1	$4.87
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.63	$2.92
☕ Cappuccino	$6.32	$3.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.03	$1.12
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2499	$282
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2053	$171
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4569	$501
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3654	$305
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$47.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$240	$73.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71	$21.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.43%	1.84%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9580	$3267
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7151	$2457
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.49	$0.59
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71	$21.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.6	$9.23
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$0.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.26	$3.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.92	$1.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$2.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$2.64
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$18.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$9.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$21
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.5	$4.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$2.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$3.01
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$4.18
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$2.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$2.33
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$0.7
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.79
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.6	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.91	$1.77
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.3	$3.87
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$12.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.97	$5.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.53	$2.29
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.47	$2.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$37.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.9	$10.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$66.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.4	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.2	$66.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$88.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1745	$259
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28967	$6518

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782

Cities near Tainan

Distance	City	Cost of living
42 km or 26 mi	Kaohsiung	$1002
62 km or 38 mi	Chiayi	$914
89 km or 55 mi	Douliu	$894
102 km or 63 mi	Taitung	$854
116 km or 72 mi	Nantou	$894
126 km or 78 mi	Changhua	$914
139 km or 86 mi	Taichung	$1006
188 km or 117 mi	Miaoli	$695
218 km or 135 mi	Hsinchu	$993
222 km or 138 mi	Zhubei	$868
233 km or 145 mi	Taoyuan	$942
249 km or 155 mi	Kinmen	$901
254 km or 158 mi	Yilan	$802
259 km or 161 mi	New Taipei	$1135
261 km or 162 mi	Jinjiang	$615
267 km or 166 mi	Taipei	$1313
269 km or 167 mi	Quanzhou	$621
271 km or 168 mi	Xiamen	$707
286 km or 178 mi	Keelung	$1030
298 km or 185 mi	Putian	$634
308 km or 191 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
356 km or 221 mi	Fuzhou	$628
359 km or 223 mi	Shantou	$589
371 km or 230 mi	Chaozhou	$454
395 km or 246 mi	Jieyang	$451
397 km or 247 mi	Longyan	$697
412 km or 256 mi	Puning	$579
415 km or 258 mi	Ningde	$628
431 km or 268 mi	Ishigaki	$1078
439 km or 273 mi	Meizhou	$669
446 km or 277 mi	Sanming	$616
455 km or 283 mi	Nanping	$671
497 km or 309 mi	Shanwei	$941
535 km or 333 mi	Rui'an	$700
556 km or 346 mi	Miyakojima	$1079
560 km or 348 mi	Wenzhou	$753
567 km or 352 mi	Heyuan	$766
573 km or 356 mi	Wuyishan	$600
590 km or 367 mi	Huizhou	$608
608 km or 378 mi	Lishui	$696