Cost of living comparison
compared to
Cuenca vs. Quito Cost of Living Summary
Cuenca is 2.8% cheaper than Quito.
Cuenca vs. Quito Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Cuenca instead of Quito, you would:
pay 27.9% less for restaurants
|
Quito
|
Cuenca
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$6.00
|
$3.50
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$7.67
|
$8.00
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$1.40
|
$0.80
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$1.12
|
$0.73
|
|
Quito vs. Cuenca - Cost of restaurants
pay 6.2% more for groceries
|
Quito
|
Cuenca
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$1.57
|
$2.12
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$3.21
|
$3.45
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$4.29
|
$3.91
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$2.14
|
$2.21
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$2.55
|
$2.75
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$1.03
|
$0.93
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.55
|
$0.49
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.59
|
$0.63
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$0.50
|
$0.62
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.55
|
$0.69
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$0.47
|
$0.48
|
|
Quito vs. Cuenca - Cost of groceries
pay 3.9% less for transportation
|
Quito
|
Cuenca
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.17
|
$3.21
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$21.00
|
$16.00
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$21,000.00
|
$25,000.00
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$13.50
|
$10.15
|
|
Quito vs. Cuenca - Cost of transportation
pay 19.1% more for housing
|
Quito
|
Cuenca
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$28.45
|
$26.73
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$482.78
|
$537.40
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$313.44
|
$388.67
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$21.90
|
$30.45
|
|
Quito vs. Cuenca - Cost of housing
pay 51.2% less for childcare
|
Quito
|
Cuenca
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$743.00
|
$230.00
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$8,951.43
|
$6,875.00
|
|
Quito vs. Cuenca - Cost of childcare
pay 21.4% less for entertainment and sports
|
Quito
|
Cuenca
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$3.50
|
$2.00
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$3.38
|
$2.73
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$6.00
|
$5.25
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$46.22
|
$30.00
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$6.40
|
$7.38
|
|
Quito vs. Cuenca - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 10.4% less for clothing
|
Quito
|
Cuenca
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$70.10
|
$67.02
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$49.62
|
$47.17
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$115.66
|
$122.79
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$107.92
|
$72.10
|
|
Quito vs. Cuenca - 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
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