San Diego, CA vs Salt Lake City, UT
Moving from San Diego to Salt Lake City? Here's what changes — from your equivalent salary to housing ($946,365 → $568,656 median home) and taxes.
San Diego vs Salt Lake City 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 $87,723 in Salt Lake City, UT (−$12,277).
Livability — San Diego, CA: 44 · Salt Lake City, UT: 64 (0–100).
What your home budget buys
A $500,000 home budget gets you about 793 sqft in San Diego vs 1,846 sqft in Salt Lake City ($631 vs $271 per sqft).
Annual cost breakdown (at $100,000)
| Category | San Diego, CA | Salt Lake City, UT | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $35,412 | $19,692 | −$15,720 |
| Groceries | $5,112 | $4,736 | −$376 |
| Transportation | $5,125 | $3,450 | −$1,675 |
| Utilities | $3,804 | $1,440 | −$2,364 |
| Insurance | $1,500 | $1,200 | −$300 |
| Taxes | $21,601 | $9,729 | −$11,872 |
| Total | $72,554 | $40,246 | −$32,308 |
Side by side
| Metric | San Diego, CA | Salt Lake City, UT |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living index | 110.7 | 97.1 |
| Unemployment rate | 6.34% | 3.61% |
| Population growth (5-yr) | 0.2% | 7.2% |
| Air quality (median AQI) | 71 | 56 |
| Big Mac price (est.) | $6.30 | $5.53 |
| Median home price | $946,365 | $568,656 |
| Home price ÷ income | 9.8× | 6.3× |
| 1-yr home appreciation | -1.1% | 1.3% |
| Price per square foot | $631 | $271 |
| Median rent | $2,951 | $1,641 |
| Total tax burden (% income) | 13.5% | 12.1% |
| Combined sales tax | 8.82% | 7.19% |
| Capital gains tax | 13.30% | 4.65% |
| Property tax rate | 0.72% | 0.59% |
| Healthcare (annual) | $7,200 | $6,000 |
| Childcare (annual, infant) | $19,000 | $10,000 |
| Vehicle property tax | 0.65% | None |
| Avg commute (min) | 26 | 23 |
| Home insurance / yr | $1,500 | $1,200 |
| Auto insurance / yr | $2,400 | $1,500 |
| Flood insurance / yr | $750 | $500 |
| Earthquake insurance / yr | $950 | $450 |
| Electricity ¢/kWh | 35.3 | 13.3 |
| Gas $/gal | 4.85 | 3.60 |
| Violent crime /100k | 500 | 260 |
| Avg summer high °F | 84 | 92 |
| Avg winter low °F | 45 | 24 |
| Permit difficulty (1–5) | 5 | 2 |