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

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Raleigh	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2317	$1454
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5372	$3624
🏠 One person rent	$1430	$697
🏘️ Family rent	$2327	$1213
🍽️ Food expenses	$612	$527
🚐 Transport expenses	$90.3	$78.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4411	$935
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	82	60
😀 Quality of life	89	72
🏙️ Population	468K	335K

The cost of living in Raleigh is 59% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 1246th and 4213th ($2317 vs $1454) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1054th 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 1.9 months in Raleigh compared to 0.6 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Raleigh ranked 64th best city to live in the United States vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 245th and 3173rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Raleigh vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Raleigh	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.5	$51
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.67	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$6.02	$4.68
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.48	$2.14
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1562	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1149	$531
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$1484
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1919	$973
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$54.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$207	$83.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.1	$53.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	9.69%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3603	$2465
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2208	$1757
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.68	$1
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$48.1	$48.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.3	$15.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.97	$2.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.39	$2.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$2.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.45	$3.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$8.94
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.8	$13.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.47	$4.34
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.98	$4.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.45	$3.48
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$3.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$3.18
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1.93
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.63	$3.28
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15	$20.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$2.64
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.71	$5.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.6	$8.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$9.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$3.47
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$4.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.2	$59.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$7.93
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$137	$96.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$15.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.3	$67.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$129
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1374	$704
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24650	$14663

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2246
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2470
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1831
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2194
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2278
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2313
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2242
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2109
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2308
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2111
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1943
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2003
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1780
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1773
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2123
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2159
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2081
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1750
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2036
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2056
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2088
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2057
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1917
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2030
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2202
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1987
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2079
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2122
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2001
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1847
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2080
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2027
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1814
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1963
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1969
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2211
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2378
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2126
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2174
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1736

Cities near San Jose, Costa Rica

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.9 km or 4.9 mi	Heredia	$1378
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1323
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$1290
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$825
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1332
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1273
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$957
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1832
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$840
246 km or 153 mi	David	$922
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$782
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$699
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$812
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$796
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$679
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1122
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$470
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$754
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$687
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1153
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$787
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1154
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1179
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$977
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1425
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1583
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1403
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1395
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$863
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1120
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1109
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$705
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$737
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1274
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1246
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1237
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1221
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1178
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$626
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$804