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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cali	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$748	$1324
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1926	$3344
🏠 One person rent	$287	$606
🏘️ Family rent	$513	$1094
🍽️ Food expenses	$269	$499
🚐 Transport expenses	$112	$78
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$394	$990
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	45	60
😀 Quality of life	50	66
🏙️ Population	2.47M	342K

The cost of living in Cali is 43% less expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 6679th and 4143rd ($748 vs $1324) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 12th and 2nd in Colombia and Costa Rica, respectively. Check Colombia vs Costa Rica comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Cali compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cali ranked 4th best city to live in Colombia vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 6204th and 4085th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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Prices in Cali vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Cali	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.3	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$25.1	$51.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.18	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.33	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$2.24	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.9	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$264	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$203	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$536	$1315
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$384	$874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$50	$53.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$76.8	$82.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$21.6	$49.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	13.11%	10.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$992	$2883
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$798	$1718
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.65	$0.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.2	$41.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.96	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.61	$2.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.3	$1.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.74	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.14	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.55	$8.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.38	$14.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.7	$3.92
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$3.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$2.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$2.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.55	$1.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.85	$3.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.9	$18.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.06	$2.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.39	$5.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.8	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.13	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.02	$3.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.1	$3.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.6	$65
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.78	$9.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29	$72.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.36	$15.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.7	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.7	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$263	$601
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6351	$12527

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cali

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Palmira	$666
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$742
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$513
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$477
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$557
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$598
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$649
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$605
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$680
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$529
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$493
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$653
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$410
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$705
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$514
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$674
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$794
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$887
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$571
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$531
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$897
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$906
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$497
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$709
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$839
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$519
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$563
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$610
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$884
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$882
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$534
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1031
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$722
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$532
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$664
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$648
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$657
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$573
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$651
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$645

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