San Diego vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	San Diego	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3507	$927
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7962	$2221
🏠 One person rent	$2395	$481
🏘️ Family rent	$4150	$858
🍽️ Food expenses	$737	$311
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$44.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5553	$436
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	86	44
😀 Quality of life	91	62
🏙️ Population	1.39M	1.4M

The cost of living in San Diego is 278% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 50th and 6169th ($3507 vs $927) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 38th 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 1.6 months in San Diego compared to 0.5 months in Ulaanbaatar. San Diego ranked 26th best city to live in the United States vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 137th and 5662nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

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	$22.1	$5.46
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$86.3	$29.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15	$5.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.74	$2.24
☕ Cappuccino	$6.24	$2.37
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$0.8
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2519	$482
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2068	$411
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4514	$888
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3653	$755
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$165	$40.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$253	$62
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71.6	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.5%	7%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8566	$1825
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6843	$946
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.51	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$9.43
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.6	$4.97
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$0.97
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.98	$0.9
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.95	$2.17
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$5.86
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.9	$5.41
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.33	$3.07
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$2.19
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.22	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.8	$2.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$0.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.16
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.19
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.7	$9.74
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.8	$1.45
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.2	$1.53
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$9.36
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.99	$3.66
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.5	$2.5
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.48	$1.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.9	$67.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.2	$4.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$19.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.3	$4.76
👖 Brand Jeans	$63	$73.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$109	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1998	$191
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$26517	$7641

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	$3220
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3053
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2963
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2933
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3033
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3040
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1295
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2948
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2995
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3243
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1141
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1138
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3261
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2995
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3245
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2976
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3251
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2927
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2676
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2963
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3070
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3030
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2758
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3085
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2815
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3513
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3122
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2621
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$968
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2669
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3544
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3027
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2980
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2554
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2767
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2697
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2804

Cities near Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$903
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$722
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$771
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$767
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$970
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$650
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$1010
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$691
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$679
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$555
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$640
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1392
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$667
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$651
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$655
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$543
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$804
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$770
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$657
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$636
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$666
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$590
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$566
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$610
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$582
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$581
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$605
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$495
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$555
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$500
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$633
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$484
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$567
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$426
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$709
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$566
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$613
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1044
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$454
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$635