Cost of living comparison
compared to
California vs. Macau Cost of Living Summary
California is 60.3% more expensive than Macau overall.
California vs. Macau Cost Breakdown
If you lived in California instead of Macau, you would:
pay 3.0 times more for restaurants
|
Macau
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$6.19
MOP49.92
|
$22.31
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$5.94
MOP47.92
|
$12.78
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$0.89
MOP7.15
|
$2.96
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$0.63
MOP5.09
|
$2.26
|
|
Macau vs. California - Cost of restaurants
pay 20.1% more for groceries
|
Macau
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$1.72
MOP13.87
|
$4.33
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$8.09
MOP65.31
|
$7.51
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$11.99
MOP96.75
|
$4.92
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$3.42
MOP27.58
|
$5.18
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$8.79
MOP70.93
|
$6.10
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$1.20
MOP9.65
|
$2.32
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$1.31
MOP10.57
|
$0.94
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.87
MOP6.98
|
$2.02
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$1.09
MOP8.77
|
$2.60
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$1.78
MOP14.40
|
$1.61
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$1.31
MOP10.56
|
$1.39
|
|
Macau vs. California - Cost of groceries
pay 32.4% more for transportation
|
Macau
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$6.86
MOP55.36
|
$5.53
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$22.43
MOP181.00
|
$64.45
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$30,925.27
MOP250K
|
$35,604.61
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$12.69
MOP102.43
|
$20.97
|
|
Macau vs. California - Cost of transportation
pay 2.1 times more for housing
|
Macau
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$36.99
MOP298.51
|
$69.16
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$1,083.62
MOP8,745.53
|
$2,414.89
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$1,032.90
MOP8,336.21
|
$2,061.17
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$93.11
MOP751.49
|
$172.98
|
|
Macau vs. California - Cost of housing
pay 48.9% more for childcare
|
Macau
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$1,211.24
MOP9,775.50
|
$1,659.26
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$18,979.08
MOP153K
|
$30,706.19
|
|
Macau vs. California - Cost of childcare
pay 14.3% more for entertainment and sports
|
Macau
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$5.75
MOP46.42
|
$7.15
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$5.01
MOP40.43
|
$5.63
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$6.68
MOP53.91
|
$11.42
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$69.07
MOP557.41
|
$65.06
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$13.48
MOP108.82
|
$15.07
|
|
Macau vs. California - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 1.3% more for clothing
|
Macau
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$69.52
MOP561.07
|
$58.89
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$33.40
MOP269.55
|
$43.96
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$92.78
MOP748.76
|
$91.63
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$136.07
MOP1,098.18
|
$130.37
|
|
Macau vs. California - 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 November 2026). How we calculate this
Change currency:
Compare further: Macau vs. California
Salary Calculator · Free tool
What salary would you need in California?
→
Quality of Life Comparison · 2 statistics
Be 2.2 times more likely to be unemployed in California
→
Size Comparison · See true size
Macau is about 14,322 times smaller than California.
→
Moving from Macau to California · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
→
Compare countries by overall cost of living
See the
cost of living in Macau vs. United States.
This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Macau and United States.
Help us improve these prices
MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate.
Learn more
Ask the Elsewhere Community
Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about California or Macau. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.