Cost of living comparison

compared to

Palo Alto vs. Moscow Cost of Living Summary

Palo Alto is 2.9 times more expensive than Moscow.

Restaurants: pay 2.7 times more in Palo Alto
Groceries: pay 3.3 times more in Palo Alto
Transportation: pay 2.1 times more in Palo Alto
Housing: pay 4.4 times more in Palo Alto
Childcare: pay 3.6 times more in Palo Alto
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.9 times more in Palo Alto
Clothing: pay 15.7% less in Palo Alto

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

Palo Alto vs. Moscow Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.7 times more for restaurants

	Moscow	Palo Alto
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.93 RUB927.45	$30.00	+151.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.97 RUB463.73	$12.00	+101.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.38 RUB107.44	$3.30	+138.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.61 RUB47.53	$2.44	+298.5%
Average			+172.4%

Moscow vs. Palo Alto - Cost of restaurants

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pay 3.3 times more for groceries

	Moscow	Palo Alto
Bread 1 loaf	$0.85 RUB65.76	$5.06	+498.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.27 RUB487.29	$11.39	+81.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.62 RUB359.07	$5.85	+26.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.68 RUB130.76	$6.26	+272.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.46 RUB191.42	$6.63	+169.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.81 RUB62.89	$3.22	+298.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.87 RUB67.62	$1.18	+35.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 RUB70.09	$2.37	+162.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.64 RUB127.43	$3.01	+83.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.43 RUB33.17	$1.94	+354.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 RUB26.31	$2.19	+547.4%
Average			+229.9%

Moscow vs. Palo Alto - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.1 times more for transportation

	Moscow	Palo Alto
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.84 RUB220.59	$4.84	+70.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$36.64 RUB2,847.28	$90.00	+145.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,994.59 RUB2,875,107.01	$36,753.89	-0.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.73 RUB445.18	$19.06	+232.8%
Average			+112.1%

Moscow vs. Palo Alto - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.4 times more for housing

	Moscow	Palo Alto
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$7.82 RUB607.45	$68.78	+780.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,253.04 RUB97,382.66	$3,600.00	+187.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$709.24 RUB55,120.27	$3,148.75	+344.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$110.60 RUB8,595.15	$179.63	+62.4%
Average			+343.4%

Moscow vs. Palo Alto - Cost of housing

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pay 3.6 times more for childcare

	Moscow	Palo Alto
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$656.36 RUB51,009.96	$2,823.00	+330.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,285.88 RUB1,110,255.03	$42,000.00	+194.0%
Average			+262.1%

Moscow vs. Palo Alto - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.9 times more for entertainment and sports

	Moscow	Palo Alto
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.18 RUB324.61	$8.00	+91.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.16 RUB245.32	$5.83	+84.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.98 RUB231.86	$11.50	+285.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.58 RUB3,464.53	$206.33	+362.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.56 RUB510.10	$16.00	+143.8%
Average			+193.7%

Moscow vs. Palo Alto - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 15.7% less for clothing

	Moscow	Palo Alto
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$76.06 RUB5,910.82	$67.50	-11.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$47.73 RUB3,709.82	$46.00	-3.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$122.95 RUB9,554.97	$88.89	-27.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$156.80 RUB12,185.71	$125.00	-20.3%
Average			-15.7%

Moscow vs. Palo Alto - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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