New York City vs San Jose, Costa Rica - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	New York City	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4202	$1574
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$9189	$3920
🏠 One person rent	$2718	$747
🏘️ Family rent	$4417	$1276
🍽️ Food expenses	$842	$579
🚐 Transport expenses	$400	$85.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5389	$1063
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	100	60
😀 Quality of life	95	73
🏙️ Population	8.8M	335K

The cost of living in New York City is 167% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 4th and 3714th ($4202 vs $1574) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st 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 1.3 months in New York City compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. New York City ranked 2nd best city to live in the United States vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 15th and 2425th among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in New York City vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	New York City	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22.6	$12.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90	$49.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.4	$11.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.3	$3.36
☕ Cappuccino	$6.22	$5.2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.28	$2.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3692	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2206	$585
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5140	$1456
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3874	$1048
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$58.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$218	$89.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$70.6	$56.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.31%	9.32%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$18073	$2299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7831	$1800
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.01	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$138	$56.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27	$16
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.45
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.44	$2.43
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.07	$3.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.67	$2.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.75	$3.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.6	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$9.83
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.5	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.3	$5.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.79	$4.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.72	$3.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.21	$4.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.96	$3.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$2.1
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.57	$3.6
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.7	$23.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.61	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.5	$5.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$23.4	$9.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$14	$9.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$8.02	$3.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.86	$4.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$132	$68.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$21.7	$8.55
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$159	$104
💇 Haircut, simple	$40.5	$16
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.1	$70.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$140
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2095	$814
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21713	$16872

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192

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