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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Puebla	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$981	$1324
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2527	$3344
🏠 One person rent	$458	$606
🏘️ Family rent	$914	$1094
🍽️ Food expenses	$311	$499
🚐 Transport expenses	$119	$78
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$651	$990
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	35	60
😀 Quality of life	53	66
🏙️ Population	1.43M	342K

The cost of living in Puebla is 26% less expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 5623rd and 4143rd ($981 vs $1324) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 19th and 2nd in Mexico and Costa Rica, respectively. Check Mexico vs Costa Rica comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Puebla compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Puebla ranked 12th best city to live in Mexico vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 6026th and 4085th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in Puebla vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Puebla	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.34	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$51.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.31	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.38	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$2.78	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.07	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$461	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$384	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$908	$1315
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$821	$874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.8	$53.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.4	$82.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$28.4	$49.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.36%	10.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$772	$2883
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$601	$1718
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.49	$0.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.4	$41.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.4	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.19	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.38	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.61	$2.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.3	$1.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.6	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.83	$8.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.48	$14.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.39	$3.92
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$3.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.97	$2.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$2.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$1.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.74	$3.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.71	$18.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.27	$2.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.92	$5.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.99	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.43	$3.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.29	$3.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45.1	$65
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.88	$9.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.1	$72.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.53	$15.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$50.9	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$284	$601
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9705	$12527

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Puebla

Distance	City	Cost of living
30 km or 18 mi	Atlixco	$825
75 km or 47 mi	Chalco de Diaz Covarrubias	$820
82 km or 51 mi	Cuautla	$858
82 km or 51 mi	Chicoloapan de Juarez	$828
86 km or 53 mi	Texcoco de Mora	$787
90 km or 56 mi	Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl	$814
103 km or 64 mi	Jiutepec	$752
106 km or 66 mi	Mexico City	$1160
107 km or 66 mi	Ecatepec de Morelos	$704
108 km or 67 mi	Cuernavaca	$745
109 km or 68 mi	Tehuacan	$485
116 km or 72 mi	Tlalnepantla	$741
117 km or 73 mi	Naucalpan	$800
119 km or 74 mi	Tultepec	$747
120 km or 74 mi	Orizaba	$724
120 km or 74 mi	Tultitlan de Mariano Escobedo	$770
122 km or 76 mi	Ciudad Lopez Mateos	$849
124 km or 77 mi	Cuautitlan Izcalli	$742
124 km or 77 mi	Teziutlan	$770
124 km or 77 mi	Zumpango	$761
131 km or 81 mi	Pachuca	$632
136 km or 85 mi	Cordoba	$759
140 km or 87 mi	Coatepec	$700
147 km or 91 mi	Xalapa	$574
153 km or 95 mi	Toluca	$696
156 km or 97 mi	Taxco	$788
160 km or 99 mi	Iguala	$821
183 km or 114 mi	Poza Rica	$635
206 km or 128 mi	San Jose Villa de Allende	$760
215 km or 134 mi	Chilpancingo	$608
217 km or 135 mi	Veracruz	$724
238 km or 148 mi	San Juan del Rio	$826
260 km or 162 mi	Alvarado	$716
268 km or 167 mi	Oaxaca	$812
284 km or 177 mi	Queretaro	$983
301 km or 187 mi	Acapulco	$756
314 km or 195 mi	Santiago Tuxtla	$700
318 km or 197 mi	Celaya	$638
320 km or 199 mi	Morelia	$717
323 km or 201 mi	San Andres Tuxtla	$699

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