San Salvador vs Tijuana - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	San Salvador	Tijuana
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1204	$1047
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2687	$2573
🏠 One person rent	$656	$463
🏘️ Family rent	$1067	$898
🍽️ Food expenses	$363	$355
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.4	$150
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$418	$822
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	42	22
😀 Quality of life	50	58
🏙️ Population	316K	1.96M

The cost of living in San Salvador is 15% more expensive than in Tijuana. Cities ranked 4469th and 5176th ($1204 vs $1047) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 12th in El Salvador and Mexico, respectively. Check El Salvador vs Mexico comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in San Salvador compared to 0.8 months in Tijuana. San Salvador ranked 1st best city to live in El Salvador vs Tijuana ranked 6th in Mexico, while ranked 6219th and 5576th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in San Salvador vs Tijuana infographic

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-salvador/tijuana.jpg" alt="Cost of living in San Salvador vs Tijuana infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/san-salvador/tijuana" target="_blank">San Salvador vs Tijuana - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in San Salvador vs Tijuana

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

	San Salvador	Tijuana
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.72	$12.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27.7	$36.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.4	$7.86
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.12	$2.87
☕ Cappuccino	$3.79	$4.13
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.16	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$736	$564
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$512	$363
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1236	$1158
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$860	$737
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.9	$33.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.7	$51.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$36	$26
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.37%	11.78%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2408	$3302
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1341	$2141
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$0.88
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.2	$32
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.7	$20.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.14	$1.17
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.07	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.67	$2.04
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$1.62
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.1	$2.8
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.63	$7.09
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.38	$5.98
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$9.89
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$2.28
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$1.39
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.57	$1.85
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.69	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.23	$1.8
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.9	$10.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.56	$1.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.03	$3.74
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.95	$5.69
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6	$3.67
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.33	$1.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.68	$2.15
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$37.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.88	$3.93
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.7	$41
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.88	$10.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$63	$37.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$72.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$161	$181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5642	$2569

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near San Salvador

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Mejicanos	$1175
6.1 km or 3.8 mi	Soyapango	$1182
11 km or 6.8 mi	Santa Tecla	$1194
11 km or 7 mi	Apopa	$1160
49 km or 30 mi	Santa Ana	$698
57 km or 35 mi	Sonsonate	$884
75 km or 46 mi	Ahuachapan	$1449
89 km or 55 mi	Usulutan	$1083
112 km or 69 mi	San Miguel	$1088
135 km or 84 mi	Jalapa	$936
172 km or 107 mi	San Miguel Petapa	$941
176 km or 109 mi	Guatemala City	$1070
185 km or 115 mi	Mixco	$653
187 km or 116 mi	Comayagua	$753
219 km or 136 mi	Tegucigalpa	$863
220 km or 137 mi	Villanueva	$897
235 km or 146 mi	Coban	$916
236 km or 147 mi	San Pedro Sula	$1047
237 km or 147 mi	La Lima	$897
241 km or 150 mi	Panajachel	$819
241 km or 150 mi	El Progreso	$903
250 km or 156 mi	Choloma	$719
253 km or 157 mi	Chinandega	$638
266 km or 165 mi	Mazatenango	$886
273 km or 170 mi	Yoro	$755
277 km or 172 mi	Puerto Cortes	$788
281 km or 174 mi	Quetzaltenango	$784
282 km or 175 mi	Momostenango	$881
287 km or 178 mi	Leon	$632
315 km or 196 mi	Esteli	$598
347 km or 216 mi	La Ceiba	$626
352 km or 219 mi	Jinotega	$455
357 km or 222 mi	Tapachula	$632
361 km or 224 mi	Managua	$738
365 km or 227 mi	Matagalpa	$624
367 km or 228 mi	Flores	$878
385 km or 239 mi	San Ignacio	$1034
387 km or 240 mi	Masaya	$710
397 km or 247 mi	Belmopan	$973
402 km or 250 mi	Granada	$701

Cities near Tijuana

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.5 mi	Imperial Beach	$2911
11 km or 6.9 mi	Chula Vista	$3017
15 km or 9.5 mi	Las Delicias	$912
18 km or 11 mi	National	$2962
21 km or 13 mi	Rosarito Beach	$910
22 km or 14 mi	Coronado	$3065
23 km or 15 mi	Lemon Grove	$2914
24 km or 15 mi	San Diego	$3428
27 km or 17 mi	La Mesa	$2916
30 km or 19 mi	El Cajon	$3043
38 km or 24 mi	Santee	$2898
42 km or 26 mi	La Jolla	$2964
48 km or 30 mi	Poway	$2930
62 km or 38 mi	Encinitas	$3124
66 km or 41 mi	Escondido	$3279
69 km or 43 mi	San Marcos	$2917
76 km or 47 mi	Carlsbad	$3273
77 km or 48 mi	Vista	$2834
81 km or 50 mi	Oceanside	$3199
84 km or 52 mi	Ensenada	$880
96 km or 59 mi	Fallbrook	$2907
109 km or 67 mi	Temecula	$2637
115 km or 72 mi	San Clemente	$2945
117 km or 73 mi	Murrieta	$3109
119 km or 74 mi	French Valley	$2732
121 km or 75 mi	Wildomar	$2763
122 km or 76 mi	Dana Point	$2936
123 km or 77 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$2950
128 km or 80 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3188
128 km or 80 mi	Menifee	$2578
131 km or 82 mi	Laguna Beach	$2996
131 km or 82 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2694
134 km or 83 mi	Mission Viejo	$3496
135 km or 84 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2971
135 km or 84 mi	Laguna Hills	$3082
135 km or 84 mi	Hemet	$2764
138 km or 86 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3326
138 km or 86 mi	Lake Forest	$3020
139 km or 87 mi	El Centro	$2698
140 km or 87 mi	San Jacinto	$2677