San Diego vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Diego	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3469	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7890	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$2370	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$4148	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$726	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5254	$516
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	86	43
😀 Quality of life	93	61
🏙️ Population	1.39M	1.4M

The cost of living in San Diego is 299% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 43rd and 6373rd ($3469 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 33rd and 1st in the United States and Mongolia, respectively. Check the United States vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in San Diego compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. San Diego ranked 26th best city to live in the United States vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 97th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in San Diego vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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Prices in San Diego vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	San Diego	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.5	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.1	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.1	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.63	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$6.32	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.03	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2499	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2053	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4569	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3654	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$240	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.43%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9580	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7151	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.49	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.6	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.26	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.92	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.5	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.6	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.91	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.3	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.97	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.53	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.47	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.9	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.4	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.2	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1745	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28967	$6621

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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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600