Cost of living comparison

 Tennessee, USA
compared to
 California, USA
California vs. Tennessee Cost of Living Summary
California vs. Tennessee Cost Breakdown

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

pay 12.6% more for restaurants

 
Tennessee
California
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $17.86
 
$21.02
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$9.51
 
$11.52
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.54
 
$2.71
 

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pay 12.7% more for groceries

 
Tennessee
California
Bread
1 loaf
$2.90
 
$4.14
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $5.63
 
$6.95
 
Milk (1 gallon) $3.62
 
$4.61
 

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pay 34.3% more for transportation

 
Tennessee
California
Gasoline (1 gallon) $3.06
 
$4.83
 
Monthly public transit pass $41.50
 
$62.05
 
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $31,466.25
 
$30,005.28
 

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pay 44.0% more for housing

 
Tennessee
California
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$66.90
 
$68.54
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $1,303.80
 
$2,371.29
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,173.17
 
$2,055.18
 

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pay 71.0% more for childcare

 
Tennessee
California
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $1,030.34
 
$1,682.51
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $17,284.00
 
$30,905.75
 

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pay 37.8% more for entertainment and sports

 
Tennessee
California
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $5.95
 
$7.00
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.12
 
$5.34
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$7.10
 
$10.91
 

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pay 0.4% less for clothing

 
Tennessee
California
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$53.07
 
$52.77
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$43.48
 
$40.15
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$85.12
 
$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: February 2025
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