Cost of living comparison
compared to
Portsmouth vs. Lancaster Cost of Living Summary
Portsmouth costs about the same as Lancaster.
Portsmouth vs. Lancaster Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Portsmouth instead of Lancaster, you would:
pay 14.3% less for restaurants
|
Lancaster
|
Portsmouth
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$22.00
|
$20.50
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$12.00
|
$9.00
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$2.40
|
$2.61
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$2.04
|
$1.50
|
|
Lancaster vs. Portsmouth - Cost of restaurants
pay 2.4% less for groceries
|
Lancaster
|
Portsmouth
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$2.78
|
$5.14
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$6.98
|
$5.51
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$4.29
|
$4.88
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$4.62
|
$3.50
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$4.19
|
$5.93
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$4.49
|
$2.33
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.67
|
$0.95
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$2.26
|
$2.09
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$2.33
|
$2.01
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.99
|
$0.73
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$1.22
|
$1.22
|
|
Lancaster vs. Portsmouth - Cost of groceries
pay 0.2% more for transportation
|
Lancaster
|
Portsmouth
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.77
|
$3.31
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$42.00
|
?? | |
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$36,446.00
|
$36,619.00
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$29.00
|
$45.77
|
|
Lancaster vs. Portsmouth - Cost of transportation
pay 26.7% more for housing
|
Lancaster
|
Portsmouth
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$77.80
|
$53.00
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$1,387.50
|
$2,166.67
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$1,160.00
|
$1,600.00
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$208.83
|
$148.39
|
|
Lancaster vs. Portsmouth - Cost of housing
pay 14.0% less for childcare
|
Lancaster
|
Portsmouth
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$575.00
|
$828.50
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$65,000.00
|
$33,333.33
|
|
Lancaster vs. Portsmouth - Cost of childcare
pay 22.1% less for entertainment and sports
|
Lancaster
|
Portsmouth
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$6.00
|
$7.00
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$5.25
|
$4.00
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$11.86
|
$14.00
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$47.50
|
$25.00
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$17.00
|
$12.25
|
|
Lancaster vs. Portsmouth - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 39.7% less for clothing
|
Lancaster
|
Portsmouth
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$60.00
|
$25.00
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$50.00
|
$37.80
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$95.00
|
$52.00
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$104.50
|
$80.00
|
|
Lancaster vs. Portsmouth - Cost of clothing
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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