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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Rome	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1972	$1574
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4629	$3920
🏠 One person rent	$1099	$747
🏘️ Family rent	$1926	$1276
🍽️ Food expenses	$525	$579
🚐 Transport expenses	$185	$85.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2041	$1063
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	91	60
😀 Quality of life	91	73
🏙️ Population	2.75M	335K

The cost of living in Rome is 25% more expensive than in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cities ranked 2104th and 3714th ($1972 vs $1574) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 2nd in Italy and Costa Rica, respectively. Check Italy vs Costa Rica comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1 months in Rome compared to 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica. Rome ranked 1st best city to live in Italy vs San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st in Costa Rica, while ranked 134th and 2425th among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in Rome vs San Jose, Costa Rica

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

	Rome	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.9	$12.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$63.4	$49.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.1	$11.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.2	$3.36
☕ Cappuccino	$2.27	$5.2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.88	$2.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1246	$821
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$861	$585
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2194	$1456
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1571	$1048
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$129	$58.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$199	$89.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$31.3	$56.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.51%	9.32%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8628	$2299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3484	$1800
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.74	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$40.1	$56.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.1	$16
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2	$1.45
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$2.43
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.14	$3.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$2.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.19	$3.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12	$9.83
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.4	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$5.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$4.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$3.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$4.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$3.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$2.1
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.42	$3.6
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.81	$23.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.64	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.52	$5.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.3	$9.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.46	$9.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.04	$3.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.83	$4.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$61.9	$68.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.2	$8.55
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$107	$104
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.5	$16
👖 Brand Jeans	$83.7	$70.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.7	$140
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$499	$814
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14156	$16872

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Rome

Distance	City	Cost of living
2.7 km or 1.7 mi	Vatican City	$1179
19 km or 12 mi	Frascati	$1779
34 km or 21 mi	Ladispoli	$1707
44 km or 27 mi	Cisterna di Latina	$1512
47 km or 29 mi	Colleferro	$1425
51 km or 32 mi	Anzio	$1417
59 km or 37 mi	Latina	$1400
61 km or 38 mi	Civitavecchia	$1683
65 km or 40 mi	Rieti	$1436
66 km or 41 mi	Viterbo	$1367
76 km or 47 mi	Terni	$1128
78 km or 48 mi	Frosinone	$1166
80 km or 49 mi	Avezzano	$1173
91 km or 56 mi	L'Aquila	$1322
93 km or 58 mi	Terracina	$1474
120 km or 74 mi	Foligno	$1421
132 km or 82 mi	Teramo	$1316
136 km or 84 mi	Perugia	$1212
140 km or 87 mi	Ascoli Piceno	$1383
148 km or 92 mi	Chieti	$1473
156 km or 97 mi	Pescara	$1296
170 km or 106 mi	Aversa	$1217
173 km or 107 mi	Santa Maria Capua Vetere	$1215
174 km or 108 mi	Fermo	$1395
175 km or 109 mi	Macerata	$1240
178 km or 111 mi	Giugliano in Campania	$1407
179 km or 112 mi	Caserta	$1346
181 km or 113 mi	Arezzo	$1429
183 km or 114 mi	Frattamaggiore	$1385
184 km or 115 mi	Siena	$1645
185 km or 115 mi	Campobasso	$1048
187 km or 116 mi	Civitanova Marche	$1480
189 km or 117 mi	Naples	$1570
209 km or 130 mi	Ancona	$1413
210 km or 130 mi	Benevento	$1305
213 km or 133 mi	Castellammare di Stabia	$1476
221 km or 137 mi	Avellino	$1201
221 km or 137 mi	Fano	$1431
226 km or 140 mi	Amalfi	$1685
227 km or 141 mi	San Marino City	$1330

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