Salt Lake City, UT vs San Juan, PR
Moving from Salt Lake City to San Juan? Here's what changes — from your equivalent salary to housing ($568,656 → $350,000 median home) and taxes.
Salt Lake City vs San Juan at a glance
Bars scaled to the range across all 200 metros; labels show actual values.
To keep the same standard of living as $100,000 in Salt Lake City, UT, you'd need about $102,939 in San Juan, PR (+$2,939).
Livability — Salt Lake City, UT: 64 · San Juan, PR: 56 (0–100).
What your home budget buys
A $500,000 home budget gets you about 1,846 sqft in Salt Lake City vs 2,500 sqft in San Juan ($271 vs $200 per sqft).
Annual cost breakdown (at $100,000)
| Category | Salt Lake City, UT | San Juan, PR | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $19,692 | $18,000 | −$1,692 |
| Groceries | $4,736 | $5,000 | +$264 |
| Transportation | $3,450 | $2,960 | −$490 |
| Utilities | $1,440 | $1,728 | +$288 |
| Insurance | $1,200 | $1,200 | +$0 |
| Taxes | $9,729 | $37,720 | +$27,992 |
| Total | $40,246 | $66,608 | +$26,362 |
Side by side
| Metric | Salt Lake City, UT | San Juan, PR |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living index | 97.1 | 100.0 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.61% | 13.00% |
| Population growth (5-yr) | 7.2% | -5.5% |
| Air quality (median AQI) | 56 | 49 |
| Big Mac price (est.) | $5.53 | $5.69 |
| Median home price | $568,656 | $350,000 |
| Home price ÷ income | 6.3× | 13.0× |
| 1-yr home appreciation | 1.3% | 3.0% |
| Price per square foot | $271 | $200 |
| Median rent | $1,641 | $1,500 |
| Total tax burden (% income) | 12.1% | 11.0% |
| Combined sales tax | 7.19% | 11.50% |
| Capital gains tax | 4.65% | 33.00% |
| Property tax rate | 0.59% | 0.52% |
| Healthcare (annual) | $6,000 | $5,000 |
| Childcare (annual, infant) | $10,000 | $6,000 |
| Vehicle property tax | None | None |
| Avg commute (min) | 23 | 30 |
| Home insurance / yr | $1,200 | $1,200 |
| Auto insurance / yr | $1,500 | $1,200 |
| Flood insurance / yr | $500 | $1,300 |
| Earthquake insurance / yr | $450 | $100 |
| Electricity ¢/kWh | 13.3 | 16.0 |
| Gas $/gal | 3.60 | 3.40 |
| Violent crime /100k | 260 | 350 |
| Avg summer high °F | 92 | 88 |
| Avg winter low °F | 24 | 72 |
| Permit difficulty (1–5) | 2 | 2 |