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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	San Jose	Santiago
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1324	$1133
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3344	$2851
🏠 One person rent	$606	$502
🏘️ Family rent	$1094	$950
🍽️ Food expenses	$499	$373
🚐 Transport expenses	$78	$159
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$990	$777
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	60	91
😀 Quality of life	66	77
🏙️ Population	342K	6.26M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 17% more expensive than in Santiago. Cities ranked 4143rd and 4686th ($1324 vs $1133) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Costa Rica and Chile, respectively. Check Costa Rica vs Chile comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica compared to 0.7 months in Santiago. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Santiago ranked 1st in Chile, while ranked 4085th and 764th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Santiago

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

	San Jose	Santiago
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.2	$12.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$47.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$8.28
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$3.5
☕ Cappuccino	$4.5	$3.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.97	$1.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$738	$490
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$444	$386
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1315	$956
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$874	$777
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.7	$75.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.5	$117
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$49.2	$20.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.31%	5.21%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2883	$3078
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1718	$3323
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.98	$0.86
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$41.6	$43.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$10.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.07	$1.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.32	$1.26
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.6
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.34	$4.06
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.97	$6.31
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$10.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$1.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.91	$2.04
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.79
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$1.54
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$0.79
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.17	$2.33
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.6	$5.81
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.43	$1.5
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.13	$5.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$4.52
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.94	$4.82
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.22	$2.39
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.77	$3.09
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.08	$6.35
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$72.3	$46.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.2	$16.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.8	$53.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$125	$74.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$601	$414
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12527	$8040

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Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Santiago

Distance	City	Cost of living
17 km or 11 mi	San Bernardo	$875
20 km or 12 mi	Puente Alto	$930
69 km or 43 mi	Los Andes	$759
78 km or 48 mi	San Felipe	$720
80 km or 50 mi	Rancagua	$798
80 km or 50 mi	Villa Alemana	$827
83 km or 52 mi	Quillota	$833
85 km or 53 mi	Quilpue	$832
89 km or 55 mi	San Antonio	$1074
95 km or 59 mi	Vina del Mar	$874
99 km or 62 mi	Valparaiso	$805
130 km or 80 mi	San Fernando	$920
179 km or 111 mi	Curico	$765
181 km or 112 mi	Godoy Cruz	$812
182 km or 113 mi	Mendoza	$823
185 km or 115 mi	Las Heras	$815
208 km or 129 mi	San Martin	$790
238 km or 148 mi	Talca	$835
251 km or 156 mi	San Rafael	$511
264 km or 164 mi	Constitucion	$814
280 km or 174 mi	Linares	$860
292 km or 181 mi	San Juan	$768
321 km or 199 mi	Ovalle	$735
375 km or 233 mi	Chillan	$642
394 km or 245 mi	Coquimbo	$807
398 km or 247 mi	La Serena	$814
401 km or 249 mi	San Luis	$731
409 km or 254 mi	Tome	$750
426 km or 265 mi	Talcahuano	$671
434 km or 269 mi	Concepcion	$902
455 km or 283 mi	Coronel	$810
456 km or 284 mi	Lujan	$722
464 km or 288 mi	Lota	$800
472 km or 294 mi	Los Angeles	$762
482 km or 300 mi	Villa Mercedes	$710
508 km or 316 mi	Curanilahue	$793
518 km or 322 mi	Angol	$791
542 km or 337 mi	Vallenar	$786
576 km or 358 mi	La Rioja	$680
588 km or 366 mi	Rio Cuarto	$731