Palo Alto vs. Jacksonville Cost of Living Summary

Palo Alto is 63.8% more expensive than Jacksonville.

Restaurants
pay 43.3% more in Palo Alto
Groceries
pay 10.6% less in Palo Alto
Transportation
pay 37.2% more in Palo Alto
Housing
pay 2.4 times more in Palo Alto
Childcare
pay 4.0 times more in Palo Alto
Entertainment and Sports
pay 84.6% more in Palo Alto
Clothing
pay 3.2% more in Palo Alto

The cost of childcare, housing, entertainment and sports, restaurants, transportation, and clothing in Palo Alto are more expensive than in Jacksonville. Notably, childcare, housing, and entertainment and sports are significantly more expensive in Palo Alto.

Palo Alto vs. Jacksonville Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Palo Alto instead of Jacksonville, you would:

pay 43.3% more for restaurants

 
Jacksonville
Palo Alto
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $15.50
 
$25.00
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$10.00
 
$13.00
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.50
 
$3.13
 

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pay 10.6% less for groceries

 
Jacksonville
Palo Alto
Bread
1 loaf
$4.29
 
$5.31
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $9.61
 
$8.16
 
Milk (1 gallon) $4.36
 
$6.38
 

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pay 37.2% more for transportation

 
Jacksonville
Palo Alto
Gasoline (1 gallon) $3.37
 
$5.86
 
Monthly public transit pass ?? ??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $35,535.00
 
$36,998.00
 

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pay 2.4 times more for housing

 
Jacksonville
Palo Alto
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$70.83
 
$76.29
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $1,350.00
 
$3,600.00
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,093.00
 
$3,148.75
 

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pay 4.0 times more for childcare

 
Jacksonville
Palo Alto
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $730.00
 
$2,942.94
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters ?? $42,562.50
 

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pay 84.6% more for entertainment and sports

 
Jacksonville
Palo Alto
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $5.00
 
$8.00
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $4.75
 
$5.80
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$8.00
 
$11.71
 

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pay 3.2% more for clothing

 
Jacksonville
Palo Alto
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$60.00
 
$67.50
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$40.00
 
$47.67
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$103.33
 
$100.40
 

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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 November 2026). How we calculate this

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