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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Guayaquil	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$925	$1324
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2456	$3344
🏠 One person rent	$364	$606
🏘️ Family rent	$743	$1094
🍽️ Food expenses	$311	$499
🚐 Transport expenses	$155	$78
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$514	$990
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	47	60
😀 Quality of life	51	66
🏙️ Population	2.65M	342K

The cost of living in Guayaquil is 30% less expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 5905th and 4143rd ($925 vs $1324) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 2nd in Ecuador and Costa Rica, respectively. Check Ecuador vs Costa Rica comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Guayaquil compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Guayaquil ranked 2nd best city to live in Ecuador vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 6147th and 4085th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in Guayaquil vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Guayaquil	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.01	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$50.4	$51.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.98	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.99	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$2.52	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.81	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$269	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$278	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$510	$1315
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$651	$874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$58.9	$53.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.4	$82.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$28.6	$49.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.36%	10.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1009	$2883
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2101	$1718
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.32	$0.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.1	$41.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24.7	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.66	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.78	$2.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.52	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.04	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.07	$8.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.44	$14.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$3.92
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.08	$3.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$2.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$2.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.72	$1.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.99	$3.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$18.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.76	$2.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.99	$5.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.37	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.14	$3.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2	$3.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.2	$65
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.57	$9.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$72.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.57	$15.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.9	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.8	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$292	$601
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5836	$12527

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Guayaquil

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.9 km or 3.7 mi	Duran	$806
33 km or 21 mi	Milagro	$697
58 km or 36 mi	Babahoyo	$823
104 km or 65 mi	Montanita	$766
113 km or 70 mi	La Libertad	$816
121 km or 75 mi	Machala	$569
126 km or 78 mi	Cuenca	$758
137 km or 85 mi	Quevedo	$651
141 km or 87 mi	Portoviejo	$716
148 km or 92 mi	Riobamba	$538
165 km or 103 mi	Manta	$990
166 km or 103 mi	Tumbes	$463
175 km or 109 mi	Ambato	$573
215 km or 133 mi	Loja	$600
229 km or 142 mi	Santo Domingo	$532
250 km or 155 mi	Mancora	$505
267 km or 166 mi	Quito	$884
308 km or 191 mi	Talara	$513
315 km or 196 mi	Sullana	$505
344 km or 214 mi	Ibarra	$519
345 km or 215 mi	Piura	$565
348 km or 216 mi	Paita	$518
349 km or 217 mi	Esmeraldas	$610
409 km or 254 mi	Jaen	$548
418 km or 259 mi	Ipiales	$531
461 km or 286 mi	Tumaco	$571
476 km or 296 mi	Pasto	$514
502 km or 312 mi	Chachapoyas	$549
509 km or 316 mi	Chiclayo	$598
574 km or 357 mi	Cajamarca	$549
617 km or 383 mi	Tarapoto	$562
630 km or 392 mi	Popayan	$477
635 km or 395 mi	Florencia	$410
666 km or 414 mi	Trujillo	$714
729 km or 453 mi	Cali	$748
745 km or 463 mi	Buenaventura	$742
751 km or 466 mi	Palmira	$666
756 km or 470 mi	Iquitos	$694
764 km or 475 mi	Neiva	$557
779 km or 484 mi	Chimbote	$504

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