Cost of living comparison

New Zealand

compared to

Spain

San Sebastian vs. Wellington Cost of Living Summary

San Sebastian is 12.4% cheaper than Wellington.

Restaurants: pay 16.9% more in San Sebastian
Groceries: pay 12.8% less in San Sebastian
Transportation: pay 18.2% less in San Sebastian
Housing: pay 7.7% less in San Sebastian
Childcare: pay 32.7% less in San Sebastian
Entertainment and Sports: pay 36.4% less in San Sebastian
Clothing: pay 8.9% less in San Sebastian

Expenses including entertainment and sports, childcare, transportation, groceries, clothing, and housing are lower in San Sebastian.

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San Sebastian vs. Wellington Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 16.9% more for restaurants

	Wellington	San Sebastian
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$13.73 NZ$24.27	$16.80 €14.95	+22.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.02 NZ$15.95	$10.64 €9.47	+17.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.42 NZ$4.28	$2.80 €2.49	+15.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.71 NZ$3.02	$1.60 €1.42	-6.6%
Average			+16.9%

Wellington vs. San Sebastian - Cost of restaurants

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pay 12.8% less for groceries

	Wellington	San Sebastian
Bread 1 loaf	$2.16 NZ$3.82	$1.03 €0.92	-52.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.62 NZ$8.18	$11.34 €10.09	+145.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.12 NZ$12.59	$4.42 €3.93	-38.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.89 NZ$12.19	$3.64 €3.24	-47.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.37 NZ$7.73	$3.68 €3.28	-15.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.40 NZ$2.47	$1.16 €1.04	-16.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.99 NZ$1.75	$1.07 €0.95	+7.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.37 NZ$2.42	$1.49 €1.32	+8.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.93 NZ$5.18	$1.30 €1.16	-55.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.95 NZ$1.69	$0.95 €0.84	-0.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.57 NZ$1.01	$0.90 €0.81	+58.9%
Average			-12.8%

Wellington vs. San Sebastian - Cost of groceries

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pay 18.2% less for transportation

	Wellington	San Sebastian
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.03 NZ$12.44	$6.62 €5.89	-5.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$101.23 NZ$179.01	$33.59 €29.90	-66.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$25,203.61 NZ$44,568.72	$36,315.82 €32,322.39	+44.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$16.19 NZ$28.63	$14.15 €12.60	-12.6%
Average			-18.2%

Wellington vs. San Sebastian - Cost of transportation

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pay 7.7% less for housing

	Wellington	San Sebastian
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$53.32 NZ$94.29	$35.27 €31.39	-33.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,215.08 NZ$2,148.69	$1,404.47 €1,250.03	+15.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,141.32 NZ$2,018.26	$973.61 €866.55	-14.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$149.83 NZ$264.95	$104.82 €93.29	-30.0%
Average			-7.7%

Wellington vs. San Sebastian - Cost of housing

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pay 32.7% less for childcare

	Wellington	San Sebastian
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,055.30 NZ$1,866.14	$447.89 €398.64	-57.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,899.11 NZ$22,810.11	$13,784.69 €12,268.87	+6.9%
Average			-32.7%

Wellington vs. San Sebastian - Cost of childcare

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pay 36.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Wellington	San Sebastian
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$7.28 NZ$12.88	$3.36 €2.99	-53.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.34 NZ$5.91	$2.05 €1.83	-38.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$25.18 NZ$44.53	$6.16 €5.48	-75.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$38.09 NZ$67.36	$42.83 €38.12	+12.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$12.04 NZ$21.30	$8.45 €7.52	-29.8%
Average			-36.4%

Wellington vs. San Sebastian - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 8.9% less for clothing

	Wellington	San Sebastian
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$77.76 NZ$137.50	$72.78 €64.78	-6.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$28.15 NZ$49.78	$32.19 €28.65	+14.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$101.77 NZ$179.97	$74.46 €66.27	-26.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$152.66 NZ$269.95	$134.37 €119.59	-12.0%
Average			-8.9%

Wellington vs. San Sebastian - 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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