Cost of living comparison

compared to

California is 60.0% more expensive than France.

If you lived in California instead of France, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 14.0% more for restaurants

 
France
California
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $15.64
€15.01
$21.02
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$10.86
€10.43
$11.52
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.73
€2.62
$2.71
 

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pay 39.1% more for groceries

 
France
California
Bread
1 loaf
$1.71
€1.65
$4.14
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $8.46
€8.12
$6.95
 
Milk (1 gallon) $4.52
€4.33
$4.61
 

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pay 0.1% less for transportation

 
France
California
Gasoline (1 gallon) $7.25
€6.96
$4.83
 
Monthly public transit pass $50.39
€48.37
$62.05
 
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $31,262.62
€30,008.27
$30,005.28
 

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pay 2.5 times more for housing

 
France
California
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$30.07
€28.86
$68.54
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $750.17
€720.07
$2,371.29
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $604.38
€580.13
$2,055.18
 

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pay 2.9 times more for childcare

 
France
California
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $690.26
€662.57
$1,682.51
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $9,163.56
€8,795.89
$30,905.75
 

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pay 37.3% more for entertainment and sports

 
France
California
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $6.20
€5.95
$7.00
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $3.01
€2.89
$5.34
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$11.83
€11.36
$10.91
 

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pay 12.3% less for clothing

 
France
California
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$89.62
€86.03
$52.77
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$37.76
€36.24
$40.15
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$91.52
€87.85
$85.15
 

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: November 2024
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See the cost of living in France vs. United States. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within France and United States.

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