San Jose, United States vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	San Jose	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3962	$412
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$8268	$1010
🏠 One person rent	$2809	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$4461	$235
🍽️ Food expenses	$768	$169
🚐 Transport expenses	$184	$38.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5742	$462
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	87	5
😀 Quality of life	91	45
🏙️ Population	1.01M	115K

The cost of living in San Jose, United States is 861% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 8th and 8957th ($3962 vs $412) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th 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 1.4 months in San Jose, United States compared to 1.1 months in Thimphu. San Jose, United States ranked 31st best city to live in the United States vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 148th and 7238th 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-jose-us/thimphu.jpg" alt="Cost of living in San Jose, United States vs Thimphu infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/san-jose-us/thimphu" target="_blank">San Jose, United States vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in San Jose, United States vs Thimphu

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

	San Jose	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23.2	$2.71
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$100	$16.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$4.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9	$2.2
☕ Cappuccino	$5.63	$1.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.41	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3015	$170
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2454	$100
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4507	$251
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4037	$172
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$169	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$256	$26.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$74.3	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.44%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9481	$577
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9796	$895
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.5	$1.65
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$89.6	$11
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.2	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$0.75
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.57	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.69	$0.73
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.72	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.55	$1.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$4.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$22.5	$4.08
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.41	$2.11
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.41
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.8	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.84	$0.71
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.97	$0.47
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.62	$0.56
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.82	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.29	$1
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.2	$5.53
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.52	$0.66
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.5	$3.6
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$1.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.94	$3.41
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.98	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.5	$0.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$130	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.6	$3.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$150	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.6	$3.07
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.4	$30.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.5	$42.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1802	$230
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23160	$633

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3488
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3608
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4273
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3379
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3257
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2871
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3508
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3603
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3254
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3805
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3181
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3589
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3261
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3382
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3395
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3137
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3771
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3489
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3359
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3520
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3017
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3065
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3676
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3593
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3604
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2910
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3094
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2802
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3831
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2983
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3007
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3346
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2859
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3282
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3778
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3264
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3277
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2089
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3245
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3212

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$443
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$293
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$307
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$320
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$943
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$310
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$299
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$339
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$315
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$335
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$299
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$1012
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$283
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$293
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$344
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$300
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$287
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$278
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$253
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$281
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$327
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$284
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$298
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$350
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$325
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$412
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$340
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$481
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$355
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$351
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$281
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$285
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$275
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$319
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$314
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$290
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$308
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$284
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$280
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$285