Cost of living comparison
compared to
Palo Alto vs. Tempe Cost of Living Summary
Palo Alto is 63.4% more expensive than Tempe.
Palo Alto vs. Tempe Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Palo Alto instead of Tempe, you would:
pay 18.5% more for restaurants
|
Tempe
|
Palo Alto
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$19.17
|
$30.00
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$12.25
|
$12.00
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$2.80
|
$3.30
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$2.40
|
$2.44
|
|
Tempe vs. Palo Alto - Cost of restaurants
pay 50.1% more for groceries
|
Tempe
|
Palo Alto
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$4.20
|
$5.06
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$5.82
|
$11.39
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$3.40
|
$5.85
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$4.83
|
$6.26
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$5.93
|
$6.63
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$2.08
|
$3.22
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.75
|
$1.18
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$1.75
|
$2.37
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$2.26
|
$3.01
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$1.12
|
$1.94
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$1.30
|
$2.19
|
|
Tempe vs. Palo Alto - Cost of groceries
pay 32.7% more for transportation
|
Tempe
|
Palo Alto
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.40
|
$4.84
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$61.00
|
$90.00
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$36,113.30
|
$36,753.89
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$13.69
|
$19.06
|
|
Tempe vs. Palo Alto - Cost of transportation
pay 35.7% more for housing
|
Tempe
|
Palo Alto
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$83.95
|
$68.78
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$1,900.00
|
$3,600.00
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$1,750.00
|
$3,148.75
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$196.17
|
$179.63
|
|
Tempe vs. Palo Alto - Cost of housing
pay 2.6 times more for childcare
|
Tempe
|
Palo Alto
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$1,091.67
|
$2,823.00
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$15,605.00
|
$42,000.00
|
|
Tempe vs. Palo Alto - Cost of childcare
pay 2.3 times more for entertainment and sports
|
Tempe
|
Palo Alto
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$6.00
|
$8.00
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$5.38
|
$5.83
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$10.49
|
$11.50
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$30.00
|
$206.33
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$13.50
|
$16.00
|
|
Tempe vs. Palo Alto - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 11.4% more for clothing
|
Tempe
|
Palo Alto
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$53.12
|
$67.50
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$43.50
|
$46.00
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$88.00
|
$88.89
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$111.67
|
$125.00
|
|
Tempe vs. Palo Alto - Cost of clothing
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: June 2026
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