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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Melbourne	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2543	$1574
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6242	$3920
🏠 One person rent	$1414	$747
🏘️ Family rent	$2478	$1276
🍽️ Food expenses	$607	$579
🚐 Transport expenses	$361	$85.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4489	$1063
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	100	60
😀 Quality of life	100	73
🏙️ Population	5.35M	335K

The cost of living in Melbourne is 62% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 829th and 3714th ($2543 vs $1574) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th 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 1.8 months in Melbourne compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 1st and 2425th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Melbourne vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Melbourne	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$12.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.1	$49.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$11.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.51	$3.36
☕ Cappuccino	$4.02	$5.2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.15	$2.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1557	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1162	$585
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2836	$1456
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2092	$1048
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$58.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$89.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$51.2	$56.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.58%	9.32%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6978	$2299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6027	$1800
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.85	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$140	$56.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.7	$16
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.45
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$2.43
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.67	$3.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$2.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.94	$3.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.76	$9.83
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$5.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$4.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.07	$3.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$4.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.76	$3.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.19	$2.1
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.68	$3.6
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.3	$23.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.54	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26	$5.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.16	$9.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.98	$9.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.14	$3.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.17	$4.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.5	$68.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.4	$8.55
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.8	$104
💇 Haircut, simple	$28	$16
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.1	$70.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$123	$140
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2326	$814
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22313	$16872

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1834
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1813
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1913
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1933
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1896
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1915
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1936
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2179
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1606
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1493
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$2000
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1816
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1876
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1880
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1868
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1825
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1728
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2258
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1905
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1795
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2364
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1460
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1701
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2355
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1709
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1855
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2481
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2040
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2354
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1995
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2133
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1273
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132

Cities near San Jose, Costa Rica

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.9 km or 4.9 mi	Heredia	$1471
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1362
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$1361
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$872
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1228
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1325
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$1024
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1929
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$844
246 km or 153 mi	David	$909
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$796
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$706
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$817
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$788
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$665
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1112
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$503
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$759
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$716
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1147
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$791
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1144
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1185
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$982
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1396
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1590
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1373
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1361
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$909
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1132
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1123
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$678
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$756
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1291
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1261
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1254
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1231
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1183
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$619
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$832