San Diego vs Taipei - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Diego	Taipei
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3469	$1313
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7890	$3273
🏠 One person rent	$2370	$637
🏘️ Family rent	$4148	$1099
🍽️ Food expenses	$726	$454
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$111
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5254	$1659
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	86	94
😀 Quality of life	93	87
🏙️ Population	1.39M	2.6M

The cost of living in San Diego is 164% more expensive than in Taipei. Cities ranked 43rd and 4455th ($3469 vs $1313) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 33rd and 1st 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 1.3 months in Taipei. San Diego ranked 26th best city to live in the United States vs Taipei ranked 3rd in Taiwan, while ranked 97th and 388th 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 Taipei infographic

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

Prices in San Diego vs Taipei

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

	San Diego	Taipei
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.5	$6.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.1	$39.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.1	$5.58
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.63	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$6.32	$3.83
🥤 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	$718
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2053	$524
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4569	$1272
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3654	$931
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$48.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$240	$74.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71	$25.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.43%	2.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9580	$14287
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7151	$8078
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.49	$0.8
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71	$38.8
🚕 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	$1.86
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$3.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$2.65
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$19
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$9.53
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$21
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.5	$4.99
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$3.11
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$3
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$4.19
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$2.8
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$2.35
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$0.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.88
🍾 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	$3.91
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.97	$7.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.53	$1.62
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.47	$2.85
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$41.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.9	$11
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$35.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.4	$17.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.2	$66.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$87.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1745	$618
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28967	$17567

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 Taipei

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.6 km or 6 mi	New Taipei	$1135
23 km or 14 mi	Keelung	$1030
39 km or 24 mi	Taoyuan	$942
39 km or 24 mi	Yilan	$802
58 km or 36 mi	Zhubei	$868
63 km or 39 mi	Hsinchu	$993
89 km or 56 mi	Miaoli	$695
133 km or 82 mi	Taichung	$1006
149 km or 92 mi	Changhua	$914
152 km or 95 mi	Nantou	$894
180 km or 112 mi	Douliu	$894
206 km or 128 mi	Chiayi	$914
252 km or 157 mi	Fuzhou	$628
257 km or 160 mi	Putian	$634
258 km or 160 mi	Taitung	$854
267 km or 166 mi	Tainan	$894
270 km or 168 mi	Ningde	$628
276 km or 172 mi	Ishigaki	$1078
297 km or 185 mi	Quanzhou	$621
298 km or 185 mi	Kaohsiung	$1002
299 km or 186 mi	Jinjiang	$615
316 km or 196 mi	Rui'an	$700
330 km or 205 mi	Kinmen	$901
340 km or 211 mi	Wenzhou	$753
354 km or 220 mi	Xiamen	$707
371 km or 230 mi	Wenling	$677
379 km or 235 mi	Miyakojima	$1079
380 km or 236 mi	Nanping	$671
395 km or 246 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
411 km or 255 mi	Lishui	$696
414 km or 257 mi	Sanming	$616
425 km or 264 mi	Linhai	$666
454 km or 282 mi	Longyan	$697
461 km or 286 mi	Wuyishan	$600
488 km or 303 mi	Jinhua	$586
495 km or 308 mi	Yiwu	$672
508 km or 316 mi	Quzhou	$604
518 km or 322 mi	Shangrao	$650
520 km or 323 mi	Chaozhou	$454
525 km or 326 mi	Shantou	$589