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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Jose	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1398	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3421	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$662	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1102	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$509	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.6	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$981	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	60	100
😀 Quality of life	74	77
🏙️ Population	342K	24.9M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 24% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4260th and 4879th ($1398 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th in Costa Rica and China, respectively. Check Costa Rica vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 2458th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

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

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Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Shanghai

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

	San Jose	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.2	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.6	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.89	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.74	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$804	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$492	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1349	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$868	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.8	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.9	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.5	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.54%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2935	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1711	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.2	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.43	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.08	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.38	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.11	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.68	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.2	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.28	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.94	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.05	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.79	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.8	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.97	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.6	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$60	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$126	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$609	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12743	$27624

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 Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753