Cost of living comparison

compared to

San Francisco is 9.6% more expensive than Washington.

If you lived in San Francisco instead of Washington, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 0.6% more for restaurants

 
Washington
San Francisco
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $25.00
 
$25.00
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$12.00
 
$12.00
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.78
 
$2.83
 

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pay 29.2% more for groceries

 
Washington
San Francisco
Bread
1 loaf
$4.34
 
$4.86
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $7.84
 
$11.38
 
Milk (1 gallon) $4.14
 
$5.98
 

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pay 15.7% more for transportation

 
Washington
San Francisco
Gasoline (1 gallon) $3.66
 
$5.27
 
Monthly public transit pass $75.00
 
$98.00
 
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $35,699.74
 
$36,753.89
 

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pay 21.6% more for housing

 
Washington
San Francisco
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$66.46
 
$65.19
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $2,582.95
 
$3,110.17
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $2,028.70
 
$2,750.00
 

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pay 11.9% more for childcare

 
Washington
San Francisco
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $2,273.25
 
$2,829.63
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $38,250.00
 
$38,000.00
 

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pay 2.2% more for entertainment and sports

 
Washington
San Francisco
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $8.00
 
$8.00
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.55
 
$5.64
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$11.75
 
$14.00
 

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pay 13.9% less for clothing

 
Washington
San Francisco
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$74.13
 
$61.43
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$50.77
 
$45.08
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$105.47
 
$104.32
 

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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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