San Diego, CA vs Portland, ME
Moving from San Diego to Portland? Here's what changes — from your equivalent salary to housing ($946,365 → $542,063 median home) and taxes.
San Diego vs Portland 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 San Diego, CA, you'd need about $94,232 in Portland, ME (−$5,768).
Livability — San Diego, CA: 44 · Portland, ME: 58 (0–100).
What your home budget buys
A $500,000 home budget gets you about 793 sqft in San Diego vs 1,568 sqft in Portland ($631 vs $319 per sqft).
Annual cost breakdown (at $100,000)
| Category | San Diego, CA | Portland, ME | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $35,412 | $27,840 | −$7,572 |
| Groceries | $5,112 | $4,917 | −$196 |
| Transportation | $5,125 | $2,775 | −$2,350 |
| Utilities | $3,804 | $3,072 | −$732 |
| Insurance | $1,500 | $1,000 | −$500 |
| Taxes | $21,601 | $12,997 | −$8,604 |
| Total | $72,554 | $52,601 | −$19,954 |
Side by side
| Metric | San Diego, CA | Portland, ME |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living index | 110.7 | 104.4 |
| Unemployment rate | 6.34% | 3.37% |
| Population growth (5-yr) | 0.2% | 5.2% |
| Air quality (median AQI) | 42 | 42 |
| Big Mac price (est.) | $6.30 | $5.94 |
| Median home price | $946,365 | $542,063 |
| Home price ÷ income | 9.8× | 6.4× |
| 1-yr home appreciation | -1.1% | 1.0% |
| Price per square foot | $631 | $319 |
| Median rent | $2,951 | $2,320 |
| Total tax burden (% income) | 13.5% | 12.4% |
| Combined sales tax | 8.82% | 5.50% |
| Capital gains tax | 13.30% | 7.15% |
| Property tax rate | 0.72% | 1.14% |
| Healthcare (annual) | $7,200 | $8,000 |
| Childcare (annual, infant) | $19,000 | $12,000 |
| Vehicle property tax | 0.65% | 2.40% |
| Avg commute (min) | 26 | 25 |
| Home insurance / yr | $1,500 | $1,000 |
| Auto insurance / yr | $2,400 | $1,000 |
| Flood insurance / yr | $750 | $700 |
| Earthquake insurance / yr | $950 | $100 |
| Electricity ¢/kWh | 35.3 | 28.4 |
| Gas $/gal | 4.85 | 3.35 |
| Natural gas / mo | $72 | $78 |
| Water & sewer / mo | $138 | $86 |
| Home internet / mo | $83 | $71 |
| Violent crime /100k | 500 | 110 |
| Avg summer high °F | 84 | 80 |
| Avg winter low °F | 45 | 10 |
| Annual precipitation (in) | 9.8 | 43.6 |
| Annual snowfall (in) | 0.0 | 49.2 |
| Sunshine (% possible) | 68% | 48% |
| Permit difficulty (1–5) | 5 | 3 |