Cost of living comparison

compared to

Santa Barbara vs. Poland Cost of Living Summary

Santa Barbara is 2.4 times more expensive than Poland overall.

Restaurants: pay 75.7% more in Santa Barbara
Groceries: pay 2.6 times more in Santa Barbara
Transportation: pay 43.3% more in Santa Barbara
Housing: pay 3.5 times more in Santa Barbara
Childcare: pay 4.4 times more in Santa Barbara
Entertainment and Sports: pay 96.2% more in Santa Barbara
Clothing: pay 4.5% more in Santa Barbara

The cost of childcare, housing, groceries, entertainment and sports, restaurants, and transportation in Santa Barbara are more expensive than in Poland. Notably, childcare, housing, and groceries are significantly more expensive in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara vs. Poland Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Santa Barbara instead of Poland, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 75.7% more for restaurants

	Poland	Santa Barbara
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$10.21 PLN38.04	$25.00	+144.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.43 PLN31.40	$15.00	+77.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.00 PLN7.46	$2.67	+33.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.65 PLN6.13	$2.42	+46.8%
Average			+75.7%

Poland vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.6 times more for groceries

	Poland	Santa Barbara
Bread 1 loaf	$1.31 PLN4.86	$4.40	+237.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.56 PLN17.00	$12.68	+177.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.98 PLN14.81	$5.25	+32.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.28 PLN12.21	$5.38	+64.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.95 PLN11.00	$8.38	+183.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.51 PLN1.90	$2.90	+467.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.75 PLN2.81	$0.74	-1.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.83 PLN3.10	$1.75	+110.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.28 PLN4.75	$2.48	+94.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.41 PLN1.54	$1.47	+255.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.51 PLN1.89	$1.36	+168.2%
Average			+162.7%

Poland vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of groceries

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pay 43.3% more for transportation

	Poland	Santa Barbara
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.51 PLN24.26	$4.73	-27.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$32.67 PLN121.70	$52.00	+59.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,516.14 PLN125K	$28,500.00	-15.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$8.89 PLN33.11	$22.78	+156.3%
Average			+43.3%

Poland vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.5 times more for housing

	Poland	Santa Barbara
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.32 PLN60.79	$74.25	+355.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$660.05 PLN2,458.76	$2,720.83	+312.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$540.72 PLN2,014.23	$2,538.89	+369.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$218.52 PLN814.01	$166.24	-23.9%
Average			+253.2%

Poland vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of housing

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pay 4.4 times more for childcare

	Poland	Santa Barbara
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$372.18 PLN1,386.41	$1,425.00	+282.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$7,516.31 PLN27,999.13	$37,000.00	+392.3%
Average			+337.6%

Poland vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of childcare

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pay 96.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Poland	Santa Barbara
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.49 PLN13.01	$8.00	+129.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.46 PLN12.89	$6.14	+77.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.23 PLN19.49	$11.82	+125.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.00 PLN137.83	$66.50	+79.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.39 PLN27.54	$12.50	+69.1%
Average			+96.2%

Poland vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.5% more for clothing

	Poland	Santa Barbara
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$87.74 PLN326.84	$69.00	-21.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$37.84 PLN140.94	$40.75	+7.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$88.94 PLN331.32	$77.00	-13.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$98.79 PLN368.01	$143.33	+45.1%
Average			+4.5%

Poland vs. Santa Barbara - 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: April 2026

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