Albuquerque vs San Jose, Costa Rica - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Albuquerque	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2029	$1574
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5026	$3920
🏠 One person rent	$1176	$747
🏘️ Family rent	$2060	$1276
🍽️ Food expenses	$600	$579
🚐 Transport expenses	$92.5	$85.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3981	$1063
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	27	60
😀 Quality of life	83	73
🏙️ Population	565K	335K

The cost of living in Albuquerque is 29% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 1945th and 3714th ($2029 vs $1574) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1522nd and 2nd in the United States and Costa Rica, respectively. Check the United States vs Costa Rica comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Albuquerque compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Albuquerque ranked 168th best city to live in the United States vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 518th and 2425th among best cities to live in the world.

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/albuquerque/san-jose-cr.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Albuquerque vs San Jose, Costa Rica infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/albuquerque/san-jose-cr" target="_blank">Albuquerque vs San Jose, Costa Rica - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Albuquerque vs San Jose, Costa Rica

Prices for goods and services in Albuquerque and San Jose are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Albuquerque	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17	$12.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$66.6	$49.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.9	$11.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.95	$3.36
☕ Cappuccino	$5.32	$5.2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$2.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1147	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$585
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2103	$1456
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1774	$1048
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97	$58.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$89.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$70.8	$56.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.15%	9.32%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2503	$2299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2242	$1800
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.63	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.2	$56.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.5	$16
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.88	$1.45
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$2.43
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.24	$3.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.38	$2.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.68	$3.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.34	$9.83
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.05	$5.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$4.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.23	$3.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.07	$4.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$3.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.88	$2.1
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.69	$3.6
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.9	$23.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.5	$5.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.27	$9.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.18	$9.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.78	$3.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.9	$4.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$68.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.1	$8.55
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$123	$104
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.3	$16
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.8	$70.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$140
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1503	$814
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25284	$16872

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Albuquerque

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.5 mi	Rio Rancho	$2089
85 km or 53 mi	Santa Fe	$2212
110 km or 69 mi	Espanola	$2237
170 km or 106 mi	Taos	$2417
197 km or 123 mi	Gallup	$2212
230 km or 143 mi	Farmington	$2470
254 km or 158 mi	Alamogordo	$1747
272 km or 169 mi	Roswell	$1938
311 km or 193 mi	Las Cruces	$1665
321 km or 200 mi	Clovis	$1776
373 km or 232 mi	Carlsbad	$1844
374 km or 232 mi	El Paso	$1796
376 km or 233 mi	Ciudad Juarez	$1066
388 km or 241 mi	Socorro	$1850
393 km or 244 mi	Pueblo	$1961
418 km or 259 mi	Hobbs	$1920
433 km or 269 mi	Fountain	$2367
434 km or 270 mi	Amarillo	$1803
437 km or 272 mi	Security-Widefield	$2423
447 km or 278 mi	Colorado Springs	$2548
456 km or 283 mi	Flagstaff	$2573
460 km or 286 mi	Plainview	$1972
467 km or 290 mi	Lubbock	$1878
472 km or 293 mi	Grand Junction	$2293
491 km or 305 mi	Apache Junction	$2482
496 km or 308 mi	Florence	$2454
498 km or 310 mi	Castle Rock	$2521
498 km or 310 mi	Fountain Hills	$2373
502 km or 312 mi	Agua Prieta	$863
502 km or 312 mi	Oro Valley	$2060
505 km or 314 mi	Queen Creek	$2988
510 km or 317 mi	Casas Adobes	$2011
512 km or 318 mi	Tucson	$1933
513 km or 319 mi	Highlands Ranch	$2605
514 km or 320 mi	Gilbert	$2378
515 km or 320 mi	Mesa	$2293
516 km or 320 mi	Marana	$2089
516 km or 321 mi	Parker	$2534
520 km or 323 mi	Littleton	$2288
520 km or 323 mi	Scottsdale	$2509

Cities near San Jose, Costa Rica

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.9 km or 4.9 mi	Heredia	$1471
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1362
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$1361
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$872
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1228
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1325
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$1024
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1929
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$844
246 km or 153 mi	David	$909
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$796
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$706
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$817
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$788
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$665
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1112
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$503
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$759
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$716
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1147
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$791
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1144
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1185
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$982
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1396
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1590
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1373
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1361
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$909
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1132
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1123
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$678
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$756
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1291
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1261
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1254
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1231
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1183
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$619
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$832