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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Atlanta	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2570	$1324
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5742	$3344
🏠 One person rent	$1586	$606
🏘️ Family rent	$2465	$1094
🍽️ Food expenses	$690	$499
🚐 Transport expenses	$133	$78
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5431	$990
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	95	60
😀 Quality of life	90	66
🏙️ Population	499K	342K

The cost of living in Atlanta is 94% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 704th and 4143rd ($2570 vs $1324) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 650th 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 2.1 months in Atlanta compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Atlanta ranked 38th best city to live in the United States vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 165th and 4085th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Atlanta vs San Jose, Costa Rica infographic

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Prices in Atlanta vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Atlanta	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.4	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$78.1	$51.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.8	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.39	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$5.32	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.74	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1651	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1325	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2827	$1315
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2042	$874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$129	$53.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$199	$82.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$67	$49.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.58%	10.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2730	$2883
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2292	$1718
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.51	$0.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$93.7	$41.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.1	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.88	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.67	$2.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.88	$1.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.85	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$8.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17	$14.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.73	$3.92
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.2	$3.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.85	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.77	$2.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.72	$2.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$2	$1.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.72	$3.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.3	$18.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.58	$2.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.06	$5.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.01	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.97	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.13	$3.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.45	$3.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.8	$65
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.5	$9.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.9	$72.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.7	$15.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.6	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.9	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1442	$601
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27299	$12527

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Atlanta

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	East Point	$2339
11 km or 7 mi	Candler-McAfee	$2331
12 km or 7.7 mi	Brookhaven	$2277
17 km or 11 mi	Chamblee	$2284
17 km or 11 mi	Smyrna	$2441
19 km or 12 mi	Tucker	$2268
20 km or 13 mi	Sandy Springs	$2285
21 km or 13 mi	Stonecrest	$2254
22 km or 13 mi	Dunwoody	$2302
26 km or 16 mi	Marietta	$2319
29 km or 18 mi	Stockbridge	$2235
29 km or 18 mi	Peachtree Corners	$2282
31 km or 19 mi	Douglasville	$2166
31 km or 19 mi	Roswell	$2390
35 km or 22 mi	Johns Creek	$2290
35 km or 22 mi	Duluth	$2208
36 km or 22 mi	Kennesaw	$1993
37 km or 23 mi	Alpharetta	$2657
40 km or 25 mi	Woodstock	$1928
41 km or 26 mi	McDonough	$2195
43 km or 26 mi	Milton	$2435
43 km or 27 mi	Acworth	$1541
43 km or 27 mi	Lawrenceville	$1974
43 km or 27 mi	Peachtree	$2213
53 km or 33 mi	Canton	$2094
56 km or 35 mi	Newnan	$2148
58 km or 36 mi	Griffin	$2159
66 km or 41 mi	Carrollton	$2149
67 km or 42 mi	Winder	$2076
80 km or 49 mi	Gainesville	$2127
92 km or 57 mi	Rome	$1888
96 km or 59 mi	Athens	$1839
100 km or 62 mi	LaGrange	$2128
124 km or 77 mi	Macon	$1704
125 km or 78 mi	Dalton	$1636
128 km or 80 mi	Valley	$1652
133 km or 83 mi	Anniston	$1726
135 km or 84 mi	Oxford	$1736
146 km or 90 mi	Warner Robins	$1901
150 km or 93 mi	Columbus	$1982

Cities near San Jose, Costa Rica

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.9 km or 4.9 mi	Heredia	$1296
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1269
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$1024
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$801
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1225
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1213
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$932
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1710
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$839
246 km or 153 mi	David	$890
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$666
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$701
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$710
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$738
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$624
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1089
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$455
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$632
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1116
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$638
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1117
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1172
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$957
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1328
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1479
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1310
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1304
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$863
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1088
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1083
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$753
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$755
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1204
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1182
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1175
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1160
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1194
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$626
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$903