Cost of living comparison

Argentina

compared to

United States

San Francisco vs. Buenos Aires Cost of Living Summary

San Francisco is 2.3 times more expensive than Buenos Aires.

Restaurants: pay 36.3% more in San Francisco
Groceries: pay 2.0 times more in San Francisco
Transportation: pay 64.2% more in San Francisco
Housing: pay 3.8 times more in San Francisco
Childcare: pay 5.5 times more in San Francisco
Entertainment and Sports: pay 99.9% more in San Francisco
Clothing: pay 27.6% less in San Francisco

The cost of childcare, housing, groceries, entertainment and sports, transportation, and restaurants in San Francisco are more expensive than in Buenos Aires. Notably, childcare, housing, and groceries are significantly more expensive in San Francisco.

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San Francisco vs. Buenos Aires Cost Breakdown

If you lived in San Francisco instead of Buenos Aires, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 36.3% more for restaurants

	Buenos Aires	San Francisco
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$19.02 ARS28,867.92	$27.15	+42.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$12.96 ARS19,666.72	$15.00	+15.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.01 ARS3,046.07	$3.16	+57.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.59 ARS2,416.19	$2.70	+69.7%
Average			+36.3%

Buenos Aires vs. San Francisco - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.0 times more for groceries

	Buenos Aires	San Francisco
Bread 1 loaf	$2.48 ARS3,760.09	$5.31	+114.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.25 ARS7,963.70	$8.16	+55.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.52 ARS8,377.38	$6.63	+20.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.81 ARS4,263.39	$4.93	+75.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.60 ARS6,980.92	$6.99	+51.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.28 ARS1,941.94	$2.78	+117.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.97 ARS1,476.56	$1.30	+33.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.65 ARS986.85	$2.00	+207.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.92 ARS1,393.21	$3.11	+238.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.56 ARS848.67	$1.34	+139.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.56 ARS844.69	$1.67	+199.2%
Average			+102.3%

Buenos Aires vs. San Francisco - Cost of groceries

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pay 64.2% more for transportation

	Buenos Aires	San Francisco
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.28 ARS8,007.72	$5.78	+9.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$27.50 ARS41,740.44	$95.00	+245.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$28,500.00 ARS43M	$36,998.00	+29.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.60 ARS14,571.21	$20.39	+112.4%
Average			+64.2%

Buenos Aires vs. San Francisco - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.8 times more for housing

	Buenos Aires	San Francisco
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$31.11 ARS47,221.65	$76.29	+145.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$770.79 ARS1M	$3,735.00	+384.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$509.75 ARS774K	$2,618.75	+413.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$162.43 ARS247K	$164.32	+1.2%
Average			+279.0%

Buenos Aires vs. San Francisco - Cost of housing

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pay 5.5 times more for childcare

	Buenos Aires	San Francisco
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$464.87 ARS706K	$2,942.94	+533.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,896.36 ARS14M	$42,562.50	+378.4%
Average			+450.3%

Buenos Aires vs. San Francisco - Cost of childcare

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pay 99.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Buenos Aires	San Francisco
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.95 ARS6,000.81	$8.00	+102.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.86 ARS5,864.38	$5.97	+54.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.21 ARS6,386.52	$12.00	+185.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.97 ARS75,852.96	$121.54	+143.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.38 ARS15,758.71	$18.00	+73.4%
Average			+99.9%

Buenos Aires vs. San Francisco - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 27.6% less for clothing

	Buenos Aires	San Francisco
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$120.49 ARS183K	$76.17	-36.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$95.69 ARS145K	$47.67	-50.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$115.94 ARS176K	$101.08	-12.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$138.37 ARS210K	$138.64	+0.2%
Average			-27.6%

Buenos Aires vs. San Francisco - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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Buenos Aires is about 1.7 times bigger than San Francisco.

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