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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Jose	Seattle
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1398	$3162
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3421	$7446
🏠 One person rent	$662	$1981
🏘️ Family rent	$1102	$3407
🍽️ Food expenses	$509	$810
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.6	$169
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$981	$6556
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	60	80
😀 Quality of life	74	93
🏙️ Population	342K	737K

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 56% less expensive than in Seattle. Cities ranked 4260th and 125th ($1398 vs $3162) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 92nd in Costa Rica and the United States, respectively. Check Costa Rica vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica compared to 2.1 months in Seattle. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Seattle ranked 27th in the United States, while ranked 2458th and 99th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Seattle

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

	San Jose	Seattle
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.2	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.6	$104
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.89	$14.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.74	$8.17
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$6
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$3.04
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$804	$2119
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$492	$1641
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1349	$3861
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$868	$2873
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.8	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.9	$260
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.5	$76
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.54%	6.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2935	$6864
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1711	$5184
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.2	$107
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$18
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.43	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.08	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.38	$4.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$4.75
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.11	$7.26
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$22.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.68	$16.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$21.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$6.07
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$5.36
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$5.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$3.16
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$3.35
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$1.75
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$3.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.2	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$3.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.28	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.94	$8.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.05	$5.94
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.79	$2.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.8	$74.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.97	$15.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.6	$148
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$28.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$60	$69.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$126	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$609	$2178
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12743	$29883

Cost of living in other countries

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	$1335
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1303
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$1241
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$821
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1288
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1236
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$953
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1714
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$864
246 km or 153 mi	David	$925
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$768
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$698
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$790
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$760
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$673
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1122
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$467
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$735
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$682
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1150
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$770
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1150
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1188
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$981
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1400
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1560
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1377
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1371
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$836
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1097
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1090
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$739
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$729
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1362
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1273
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1262
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1238
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1182
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$627
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$780

Cities near Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2851
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3313
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2907
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2644
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2652
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2814
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$2723
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2552
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3269
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2674
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2745
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2730
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2812
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2669
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2741
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2641
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2678
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2525
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2796
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2655
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2523
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2609
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2632
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2295
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2649
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2461
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2702
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2782
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2623
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2473
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2603
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2384
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2632
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2551
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2644
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2762
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2419
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2480
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2749
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2114