Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Hong Kong instead of California, you would:

Economy

be 45.1% less likely to be unemployed

In California, 5.1% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Hong Kong, that number is 2.8% as of 2025.

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make 32.2% less money

California has a GDP per capita of $84,028 as of 2024, while in Hong Kong, the GDP per capita is $56,983 as of 2025.

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Sources: World Bank (2025), Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024). How we calculate this

Compare further: California vs. Hong Kong

Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
Hong Kong is 8.7% cheaper than California
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Size Comparison · See true size
California is about 365 times bigger than Hong Kong.
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Moving from California to Hong Kong · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
→

Hong Kong: At a glance

Hong Kong (sometimes abbreviated HK) is a sovereign country in East/Southeast Asia, with a total land area of approximately 1,073 sq km. Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system would not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong would enjoy a "high degree of autonomy" in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the subsequent 50 years.
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How big is Hong Kong compared to California? See an in-depth size comparison.

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