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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Riyadh	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1637	$1324
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3629	$3344
🏠 One person rent	$944	$606
🏘️ Family rent	$1530	$1094
🍽️ Food expenses	$375	$499
🚐 Transport expenses	$183	$78
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2731	$990
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	72	60
😀 Quality of life	78	66
🏙️ Population	7.01M	342K

The cost of living in Riyadh is 24% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 2911th and 4143rd ($1637 vs $1324) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Saudi Arabia and Costa Rica, respectively. Check Saudi Arabia vs Costa Rica comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Riyadh compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Riyadh ranked 1st best city to live in Saudi Arabia vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 733rd and 4085th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in Riyadh vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Riyadh	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.31	$11.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.6	$51.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.02	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.88	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$4.16	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.76	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1001	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$748	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2174	$1315
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1140	$874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.4	$53.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$107	$82.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.4	$49.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.42%	10.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2485	$2883
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1703	$1718
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.07	$0.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.2	$41.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.4	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.61	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.71	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.28	$2.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$1.94
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$3.34
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.14	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.75	$8.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$14.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$3.92
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$3.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$1.85
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.14	$3.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.71	$18.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.72	$2.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.19	$5.13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.8	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.03	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.23	$3.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.22	$3.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$102	$65
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16	$9.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.2	$72.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.23	$15.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.2	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$404	$601
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10598	$12527

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529

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