Cost of living comparison

Puerto Rico

compared to

New Zealand

Wellington vs. San Juan Cost of Living Summary

Wellington is 4.7% cheaper than San Juan.

Restaurants: pay 10.9% less in Wellington
Groceries: pay 28.1% less in Wellington
Transportation: pay 38.4% more in Wellington
Housing: pay 11.5% less in Wellington
Childcare: pay 15.0% more in Wellington
Entertainment and Sports: pay 28.7% more in Wellington
Clothing: pay 5.5% less in Wellington

The cost of transportation, entertainment and sports, and childcare in Wellington are more expensive than in San Juan. Expenses including groceries, housing, restaurants, and clothing are lower in Wellington.

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Wellington vs. San Juan Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Wellington instead of San Juan, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 10.9% less for restaurants

	San Juan	Wellington
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$19.13	$13.73 NZ$24.27	-28.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.19	$9.02 NZ$15.95	-1.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.87	$2.42 NZ$4.28	+29.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.48	$1.71 NZ$3.02	+15.8%
Average			-10.9%

San Juan vs. Wellington - Cost of restaurants

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pay 28.1% less for groceries

	San Juan	Wellington
Bread 1 loaf	$3.63	$2.16 NZ$3.82	-40.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.27	$4.62 NZ$8.18	-26.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.20	$7.12 NZ$12.59	-13.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$7.41	$6.89 NZ$12.19	-6.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.37	$4.37 NZ$7.73	+0.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.30	$1.40 NZ$2.47	-39.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.18	$0.99 NZ$1.75	-16.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.20	$1.37 NZ$2.42	-37.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.18	$2.93 NZ$5.18	+34.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.71	$0.95 NZ$1.69	-44.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.79	$0.57 NZ$1.01	-68.3%
Average			-28.1%

San Juan vs. Wellington - Cost of groceries

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pay 38.4% more for transportation

	San Juan	Wellington
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.60	$7.03 NZ$12.44	+52.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.00	$101.23 NZ$179.01	+237.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$40,000.00	$25,203.61 NZ$44,568.72	-37.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.50	$16.19 NZ$28.63	+11.7%
Average			+38.4%

San Juan vs. Wellington - Cost of transportation

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pay 11.5% less for housing

	San Juan	Wellington
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$69.79	$53.32 NZ$94.29	-23.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,813.12	$1,215.08 NZ$2,148.69	-33.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$834.00	$1,141.32 NZ$2,018.26	+36.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$245.59	$149.83 NZ$264.95	-39.0%
Average			-11.5%

San Juan vs. Wellington - Cost of housing

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pay 15.0% more for childcare

	San Juan	Wellington
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$821.00	$1,055.30 NZ$1,866.14	+28.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,527.31	$12,899.11 NZ$22,810.11	+3.0%
Average			+15.0%

San Juan vs. Wellington - Cost of childcare

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pay 28.7% more for entertainment and sports

	San Juan	Wellington
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.00	$7.28 NZ$12.88	+142.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.60	$3.34 NZ$5.91	-7.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$12.00	$25.18 NZ$44.53	+109.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$40.99	$38.09 NZ$67.36	-7.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.50	$12.04 NZ$21.30	+14.7%
Average			+28.7%

San Juan vs. Wellington - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 5.5% less for clothing

	San Juan	Wellington
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$56.25	$77.76 NZ$137.50	+38.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$61.25	$28.15 NZ$49.78	-54.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$108.75	$101.77 NZ$179.97	-6.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$113.75	$152.66 NZ$269.95	+34.2%
Average			-5.5%

San Juan vs. Wellington - Cost of clothing

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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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