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

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Arlington	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1907	$1454
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4693	$3624
🏠 One person rent	$1121	$697
🏘️ Family rent	$1937	$1213
🍽️ Food expenses	$561	$527
🚐 Transport expenses	$86.4	$78.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3714	$935
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	90	60
😀 Quality of life	78	72
🏙️ Population	394K	335K

The cost of living in Arlington is 31% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 2397th and 4213th ($1907 vs $1454) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1784th 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 1.9 months in Arlington compared to 0.6 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Arlington ranked 264th best city to live in the United States vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 894th and 3173rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Arlington vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Arlington	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$56.8	$51
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.7	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.17	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$5.41	$4.68
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.78	$2.14
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1271	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$867	$531
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2259	$1484
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1561	$973
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$54.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$183	$83.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$53.4	$53.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.24%	9.69%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2186	$2465
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2186	$1757
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$5.22	$1
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39.7	$48.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.5	$15.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$2.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.82	$2.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$2.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.01	$3.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$8.94
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17	$13.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.18	$4.34
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.55	$4.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$3.48
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$3.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.01	$3.18
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.55	$1.93
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.83	$3.28
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$20.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.95	$2.64
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.59	$5.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.18	$8.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$9.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.46	$3.47
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.02	$4.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.2	$59.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.1	$7.93
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$105	$96.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.7	$15.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$53	$67.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$129
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1389	$704
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25323	$14663

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Arlington

Distance	City	Cost of living
10 km or 6.2 mi	Grand Prairie	$2127
14 km or 8.9 mi	Mansfield	$2302
15 km or 9.6 mi	Hurst	$2127
16 km or 9.8 mi	Bedford	$2126
16 km or 10 mi	Euless	$2114
19 km or 12 mi	Haltom	$2145
19 km or 12 mi	North Richland Hills	$2141
20 km or 12 mi	Irving	$2114
20 km or 13 mi	Colleyville	$2124
21 km or 13 mi	Fort Worth	$2219
21 km or 13 mi	Duncanville	$2198
21 km or 13 mi	Cedar Hill	$2195
22 km or 14 mi	Watauga	$2128
26 km or 16 mi	Grapevine	$2076
27 km or 17 mi	Burleson	$2175
27 km or 17 mi	Keller	$2105
27 km or 17 mi	Southlake	$2129
27 km or 17 mi	DeSoto	$2193
28 km or 17 mi	Midlothian	$2193
29 km or 18 mi	Saginaw	$2152
30 km or 18 mi	Coppell	$2142
30 km or 19 mi	Dallas	$2461
31 km or 19 mi	Benbrook	$2155
34 km or 21 mi	Farmers Branch	$2190
35 km or 21 mi	Lancaster	$2212
35 km or 22 mi	University Park	$2258
37 km or 23 mi	Flower Mound	$2135
38 km or 24 mi	Carrollton	$2188
39 km or 24 mi	Lewisville	$2076
43 km or 27 mi	Waxahachie	$2196
47 km or 29 mi	Cleburne	$2177
48 km or 30 mi	Balch Springs	$2208
48 km or 30 mi	Richardson	$2246
48 km or 30 mi	The Colony	$2233
49 km or 30 mi	Mesquite	$2147
49 km or 30 mi	Corinth	$2177
51 km or 32 mi	Garland	$2357
52 km or 32 mi	Plano	$2127
54 km or 33 mi	Little Elm	$2225
56 km or 35 mi	Frisco	$2393

Cities near San Jose, Costa Rica

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.9 km or 4.9 mi	Heredia	$1378
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1323
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$1290
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$825
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1332
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1273
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$957
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1832
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$840
246 km or 153 mi	David	$922
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$782
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$699
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$812
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$796
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$679
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1122
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$470
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$754
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$687
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1153
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$787
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1154
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1179
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$977
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1425
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1583
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1403
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1395
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$863
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1120
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1109
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$705
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$737
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1274
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1246
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1237
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1221
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1178
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$626
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$804