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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Phoenix	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2423	$1574
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5582	$3920
🏠 One person rent	$1419	$747
🏘️ Family rent	$2230	$1276
🍽️ Food expenses	$694	$579
🚐 Transport expenses	$149	$85.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4178	$1063
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	71	60
😀 Quality of life	89	73
🏙️ Population	1.61M	335K

The cost of living in Phoenix is 54% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 1041st and 3714th ($2423 vs $1574) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 896th 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 1.7 months in Phoenix compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Phoenix ranked 58th best city to live in the United States vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 226th and 2425th among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in Phoenix vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Phoenix	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$20	$12.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90	$49.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.5	$11.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.95	$3.36
☕ Cappuccino	$6.41	$5.2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.86	$2.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1497	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1109	$585
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2358	$1456
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1803	$1048
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$152	$58.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$235	$89.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$80.7	$56.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.2%	9.32%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4665	$2299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3124	$1800
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.99	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$63.8	$56.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.7	$16
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.07	$1.45
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$2.43
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.05	$3.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.29	$2.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.35	$3.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$9.83
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.4	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.9	$5.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.46	$4.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.08	$3.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$4.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.24	$3.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$2.1
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.68	$3.6
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.1	$23.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.45	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.8	$5.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.14	$9.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.45	$9.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.81	$3.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.11	$4.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.1	$68.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$8.55
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$112	$104
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.7	$16
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.9	$70.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$140
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1659	$814
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21660	$16872

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Phoenix

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.1 mi	Glendale	$1974
14 km or 9 mi	Scottsdale	$2509
16 km or 10 mi	Peoria	$2366
17 km or 10 mi	Tempe	$2463
25 km or 15 mi	El Mirage	$2296
26 km or 16 mi	Mesa	$2293
27 km or 17 mi	Avondale	$2365
28 km or 17 mi	Goodyear	$2343
29 km or 18 mi	Surprise	$2346
33 km or 21 mi	Chandler	$2367
33 km or 21 mi	Gilbert	$2378
33 km or 21 mi	Fountain Hills	$2373
51 km or 31 mi	Queen Creek	$2988
51 km or 32 mi	Apache Junction	$2482
51 km or 32 mi	Buckeye	$2318
53 km or 33 mi	Maricopa	$2243
78 km or 48 mi	Casa Grande	$2374
84 km or 52 mi	Florence	$2454
118 km or 73 mi	Prescott	$2321
122 km or 76 mi	Prescott Valley	$2312
155 km or 96 mi	Marana	$2089
160 km or 99 mi	Oro Valley	$2060
165 km or 102 mi	Casas Adobes	$2011
181 km or 112 mi	Tucson	$1933
190 km or 118 mi	Flagstaff	$2573
205 km or 128 mi	Sahuarita	$2070
232 km or 144 mi	Lake Havasu	$2011
234 km or 145 mi	Blythe	$2818
254 km or 158 mi	Yuma	$1767
259 km or 161 mi	Kingman	$1865
264 km or 164 mi	Nogales	$2153
268 km or 166 mi	Nogales	$771
276 km or 171 mi	San Luis	$1924
276 km or 172 mi	San Luis Rio Colorado	$950
278 km or 173 mi	Sierra Vista	$1654
290 km or 180 mi	Bullhead	$1835
313 km or 194 mi	Caborca	$876
327 km or 203 mi	Brawley	$2817
330 km or 205 mi	Mexicali	$994
332 km or 207 mi	Calexico	$2804

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