City comparison
Dundalk, MD is about 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from San Diego, CA in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 2,900 miles, or about 48 hours (about 5 days at 10 h/day) behind the wheel at highway speeds.
Driving distance is a rough estimate (great-circle × 1.25); driving time assumes a 60 mph blended average. Real trips run 10–20% longer with stops.
A direct flight from Dundalk, MD to San Diego, CA takes about 4 h 35 min, covering roughly 2,300 miles in a straight line. Connecting itineraries with a layover typically add 1–3 hours.
Block-to-block estimate at ~500 mph cruise, including taxi, climb, and descent — what an airline would publish, not pure airborne time.
Dundalk, MD is on Eastern Time and San Diego, CA is on Pacific Time — a 3-hour difference. When it's noon in Dundalk, it's 9 a.m. in San Diego, which puts Dundalk 3 hours ahead.
Standard-time offsets. Daylight saving applies in both cities for most of the year (exceptions: Hawaii and most of Arizona), and the gap between the two stays the same.
San Diego has a population of 1,383,987, vs 66,321 in Dundalk — about 20.9× larger by population. By land area, San Diego covers about 325 sq mi vs 13 sq mi for Dundalk.
Population from US Census ACS. Land area from the Census Gazetteer (city proper, excluding inland water).
Cost indices by category, with the US city average (100) marked.
Index: 100 = US city average. Lower is more affordable.
Side-by-side costs, salaries, and sub-category indices.
| Metric | Dundalk | San Diego | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,346/mo | $2,080/mo | 54.5% higher in San Diego |
| Median home value | $184,700 | $783,300 | 324.1% higher in San Diego |
| Median household income | $61,217 | $98,657 | 61.2% higher in San Diego |
| Groceries index | 102.0 | 107.6 | 5.5% higher in San Diego |
| Utilities index | 108.8 | 169.8 | 56.0% higher in San Diego |
| Transportation index | 101.4 | 100.0 | 1.4% higher in Dundalk |
| Healthcare index | 100.9 | 100.0 | 0.9% higher in Dundalk |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Dundalk, you'd need $129,172 in San Diego to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Dundalk, MD is about 22.6% cheaper overall than San Diego, CA, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 52% higher in San Diego than in Dundalk. If you earn $80,000 in Dundalk, you'd need about $103,337 in San Diego to keep the same standard of living.