San Juan, PR vs Buffalo, NY
Moving from San Juan to Buffalo? Here's what changes — from your equivalent salary to housing ($350,000 → $288,316 median home) and taxes.
San Juan vs Buffalo 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 Juan, PR, you'd need about $94,921 in Buffalo, NY (−$5,079).
Livability — San Juan, PR: 56 · Buffalo, NY: 61 (0–100).
What your home budget buys
A $500,000 home budget gets you about 2,500 sqft in San Juan vs 2,775 sqft in Buffalo ($200 vs $180 per sqft).
Annual cost breakdown (at $100,000)
| Category | San Juan, PR | Buffalo, NY | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $18,000 | $17,328 | −$672 |
| Groceries | $5,000 | $4,868 | −$132 |
| Transportation | $2,960 | $3,895 | +$935 |
| Utilities | $1,728 | $3,180 | +$1,452 |
| Insurance | $1,200 | $1,600 | +$400 |
| Taxes | $37,720 | $18,192 | −$19,528 |
| Total | $66,608 | $49,063 | −$17,545 |
Side by side
| Metric | San Juan, PR | Buffalo, NY |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living index | 100.0 | 94.9 |
| Unemployment rate | 13.00% | 5.10% |
| Population growth (5-yr) | -5.5% | 2.4% |
| Air quality (median AQI) | 42 | 42 |
| Big Mac price (est.) | $5.69 | $5.40 |
| Median home price | $350,000 | $288,316 |
| Home price ÷ income | 13.0× | 4.3× |
| 1-yr home appreciation | 3.0% | 4.8% |
| Price per square foot | $200 | $180 |
| Median rent | $1,500 | $1,444 |
| Total tax burden (% income) | 11.0% | 15.9% |
| Combined sales tax | 11.50% | 8.52% |
| Capital gains tax | 33.00% | 10.90% |
| Property tax rate | 0.52% | 2.26% |
| Healthcare (annual) | $5,000 | $7,800 |
| Childcare (annual, infant) | $6,000 | $17,000 |
| Vehicle property tax | None | None |
| Avg commute (min) | 30 | 22 |
| Home insurance / yr | $1,200 | $1,600 |
| Auto insurance / yr | $1,200 | $2,100 |
| Flood insurance / yr | $1,300 | $800 |
| Earthquake insurance / yr | $100 | $100 |
| Electricity ¢/kWh | 16.0 | 29.4 |
| Gas $/gal | 3.40 | 3.45 |
| Natural gas / mo | $5 | $98 |
| Water & sewer / mo | $40 | $87 |
| Home internet / mo | $60 | $76 |
| Violent crime /100k | 350 | 350 |
| Avg summer high °F | 88 | 83 |
| Avg winter low °F | 72 | 16 |
| Annual precipitation (in) | 57.0 | 40.7 |
| Annual snowfall (in) | 0.0 | 95.4 |
| Sunshine (% possible) | 65% | 48% |
| Permit difficulty (1–5) | 2 | 5 |