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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Medellin	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$906	$1324
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2260	$3344
🏠 One person rent	$408	$606
🏘️ Family rent	$761	$1094
🍽️ Food expenses	$275	$499
🚐 Transport expenses	$133	$78
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$432	$990
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	66	60
😀 Quality of life	53	66
🏙️ Population	2.53M	342K

The cost of living in Medellin is 32% less expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 6005th and 4143rd ($906 vs $1324) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd 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 Medellin compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Medellin ranked 2nd best city to live in Colombia vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 6049th and 4085th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in Medellin vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Medellin	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.13	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$51.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.21	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.02	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$1.92	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$439	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$312	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$851	$1315
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$618	$874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.3	$53.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.5	$82.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$22.9	$49.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.16%	10.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1715	$2883
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1447	$1718
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.79	$0.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$41.1	$41.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.5	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.01	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.12	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.3	$2.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.33	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.44	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.8	$8.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.62	$14.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$3.92
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$3.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$2.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.12	$2.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$1.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.83	$3.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$18.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$2.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.41	$5.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.41	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.4	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.85	$3.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.28	$3.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.3	$65
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.57	$9.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.1	$72.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$15.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$64	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.4	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$292	$601
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5682	$12527

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Medellin

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Envigado	$897
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Bello	$839
131 km or 82 mi	Manizales	$653
135 km or 84 mi	Quibdo	$705
160 km or 99 mi	Pereira	$680
171 km or 106 mi	Cartago	$649
179 km or 111 mi	Salento	$605
190 km or 118 mi	Armenia	$598
205 km or 127 mi	Ibague	$529
209 km or 130 mi	Facatativa	$674
212 km or 131 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1031
221 km or 137 mi	Zipaquira	$709
232 km or 144 mi	Girardot	$493
239 km or 148 mi	Soacha	$794
242 km or 150 mi	Turbo	$664
246 km or 153 mi	Bogota	$887
250 km or 155 mi	Tulua	$513
257 km or 160 mi	Tunja	$563
282 km or 175 mi	Monteria	$645
285 km or 177 mi	Duitama	$882
288 km or 179 mi	Bucaramanga	$657
289 km or 179 mi	Floridablanca	$648
298 km or 185 mi	Sogamoso	$534
308 km or 192 mi	Buenaventura	$742
312 km or 194 mi	Palmira	$666
318 km or 198 mi	Villavicencio	$497
329 km or 204 mi	Cali	$748
331 km or 206 mi	Ocana	$650
334 km or 208 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$669
340 km or 211 mi	Sincelejo	$524
346 km or 215 mi	Magangue	$604
367 km or 228 mi	Yopal	$722
370 km or 230 mi	Neiva	$557
386 km or 240 mi	Cucuta	$562
387 km or 241 mi	San Antonio del Tachira	$601
391 km or 243 mi	Rubio	$599
406 km or 252 mi	San Cristobal	$592
410 km or 255 mi	Tariba	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Popayan	$477
448 km or 279 mi	La Grita	$618

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