Long Beach vs San Jose, Costa Rica - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Long Beach	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2764	$1324
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6355	$3344
🏠 One person rent	$1831	$606
🏘️ Family rent	$3177	$1094
🍽️ Food expenses	$629	$499
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$78
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4536	$990
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	94	60
😀 Quality of life	76	66
🏙️ Population	467K	342K

The cost of living in Long Beach is 109% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 379th and 4143rd ($2764 vs $1324) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 339th 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 1.6 months in Long Beach compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Long Beach ranked 231st best city to live in the United States vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 949th and 4085th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Long Beach vs San Jose, Costa Rica infographic

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

Prices in Long Beach vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Long Beach	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.2	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.4	$51.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.3	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.61	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$5.19	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.17	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2014	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1593	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3278	$1315
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2898	$874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$94.7	$53.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$82.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$59.3	$49.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.66%	10.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7095	$2883
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7019	$1718
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.76	$0.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72.7	$41.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$34.1	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.03	$2.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$1.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.5	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.5	$8.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.4	$14.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$3.92
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.21	$3.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.28	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.59	$2.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.07	$2.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$1.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.82	$3.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$18.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$2.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.3	$5.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.12	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.58	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.13	$3.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.63	$3.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.8	$65
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$9.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$95.8	$72.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.1	$15.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$45.7	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.6	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1510	$601
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27134	$12527

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Long Beach

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Carson	$2919
11 km or 6.5 mi	Seal Beach	$2874
11 km or 7 mi	Lakewood	$2703
11 km or 7.1 mi	Lomita	$2983
15 km or 9 mi	Compton	$2851
15 km or 9.2 mi	Bellflower	$2669
15 km or 9.2 mi	Paramount	$2720
15 km or 9.5 mi	Torrance	$3229
15 km or 9.6 mi	Cypress	$2775
16 km or 9.7 mi	Rancho Palos Verdes	$3068
16 km or 10 mi	Cerritos	$2716
17 km or 11 mi	Gardena	$3022
17 km or 11 mi	Lynwood	$2788
19 km or 12 mi	Norwalk	$2662
19 km or 12 mi	Westminster	$2899
19 km or 12 mi	Stanton	$2817
19 km or 12 mi	Redondo Beach	$3640
20 km or 12 mi	South Gate	$2786
20 km or 12 mi	Lawndale	$3162
20 km or 12 mi	Downey	$2735
20 km or 12 mi	Huntington Beach	$3238
20 km or 13 mi	Buena Park	$2781
22 km or 14 mi	Hawthorne	$3104
22 km or 14 mi	Garden Grove	$2905
22 km or 14 mi	Cudahy	$2768
23 km or 14 mi	Bell Gardens	$2727
23 km or 14 mi	La Mirada	$2780
23 km or 14 mi	Florence-Graham	$2873
23 km or 14 mi	Fountain Valley	$3162
23 km or 15 mi	Bell	$2798
24 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3256
24 km or 15 mi	Huntington Park	$2887
24 km or 15 mi	Maywood	$2803
25 km or 16 mi	Inglewood	$3014
26 km or 16 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2750
26 km or 16 mi	Pico Rivera	$2750
27 km or 17 mi	Whittier	$2789
28 km or 17 mi	Fullerton	$3036
28 km or 18 mi	Montebello	$2739
29 km or 18 mi	Santa Ana	$2683

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