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

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Brisbane	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2269	$1454
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5424	$3624
🏠 One person rent	$1398	$697
🏘️ Family rent	$2462	$1213
🍽️ Food expenses	$574	$527
🚐 Transport expenses	$151	$78.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4258	$935
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	66	60
😀 Quality of life	98	72
🏙️ Population	2.71M	335K

The cost of living in Brisbane is 56% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 1349th and 4213th ($2269 vs $1454) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 2nd in Australia and Costa Rica, respectively. Check Australia vs Costa Rica comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Brisbane compared to 0.6 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Brisbane ranked 3rd best city to live in Australia vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 3rd and 3173rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Brisbane vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Brisbane	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68.3	$51
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.8	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.04	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$4.09	$4.68
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.89	$2.14
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1660	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1147	$531
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3002	$1484
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2079	$973
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$94.2	$54.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$83.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54.2	$53.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.78%	9.69%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7935	$2465
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5145	$1757
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.36	$1
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.8	$48.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19	$15.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$2.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.28	$2.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$2.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.95	$3.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.35	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.06	$8.94
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$13.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.73	$4.34
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.1	$1.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.11	$4.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.91	$3.48
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$3.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$3.18
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$1.93
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.83	$3.28
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14	$20.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.89	$2.64
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.1	$5.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.94	$8.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.16	$9.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.47	$3.47
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.57	$4.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48	$59.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$7.93
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.1	$96.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.8	$15.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$81.5	$67.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$112	$129
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1949	$704
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12459	$14663

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brisbane

Distance	City	Cost of living
31 km or 19 mi	Ipswich	$1813
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1988
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2352
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2528
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1864
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1288
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1640
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1997
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1867
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2379
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$2050
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1710
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2482
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2844
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1699
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1477
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1695
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1821
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2223
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1824
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$1839
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1815
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1904
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1487
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$1979
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1928
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1896
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2496
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1860
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1829
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1894

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