San Diego vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Diego	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3469	$420
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7890	$1031
🏠 One person rent	$2370	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$4148	$236
🍽️ Food expenses	$726	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$39.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5254	$544
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	86	5
😀 Quality of life	93	42
🏙️ Population	1.39M	115K

The cost of living in San Diego is 727% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 43rd and 8940th ($3469 vs $420) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 33rd and 2nd in the United States and Bhutan, respectively. Check the United States vs Bhutan 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 Thimphu. San Diego ranked 26th best city to live in the United States vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 97th and 7547th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in San Diego vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in San Diego vs Thimphu

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

	San Diego	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.5	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.1	$17.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.1	$4.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.63	$2.28
☕ Cappuccino	$6.32	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.03	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2499	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2053	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4569	$255
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3654	$171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$240	$26.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.43%	10.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9580	$600
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7151	$947
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.49	$1.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.6	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.26	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.92	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$4.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$4.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$4.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.5	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$0.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$0.58
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.6	$5.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.91	$0.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.3	$3.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$1.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.97	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.53	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.47	$0.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.9	$3.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$27.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.4	$3.19
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.2	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$43.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1745	$235
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28967	$653

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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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$450
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$297
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$308
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$311
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$918
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$316
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$298
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$348
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$321
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$338
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$297
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$981
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$284
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$287
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$354
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$297
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$282
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$281
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$321
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$293
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$294
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$352
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$332
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$427
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$464
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$362
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$328
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$300
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$286
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$320
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$289
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$286
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$289