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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	San Jose	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1574	$995
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3920	$2526
🏠 One person rent	$747	$552
🏘️ Family rent	$1276	$975
🍽️ Food expenses	$579	$270
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.8	$87.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1063	$938
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	60	95
😀 Quality of life	73	76
🏙️ Population	335K	17.5M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 58% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 3714th and 5618th ($1574 vs $995) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 10th 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 0.9 months in Shenzhen. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Shenzhen ranked 4th in China, while ranked 2425th and 1163rd among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Shenzhen

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

	San Jose	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.8	$3.68
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.5	$29.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.8	$5.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.36	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$5.2	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.34	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$821	$701
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$585	$456
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1456	$1238
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1048	$826
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$58.3	$35.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$89.7	$54.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$56.7	$11.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.32%	3.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2299	$13122
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1800	$6054
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.44
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.4	$22.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16	$4.66
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.45	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.43	$1.69
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.01	$1.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$1.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.5	$1.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$16.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.83	$3.65
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.9	$14.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.01	$2.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.76	$1.36
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.66	$1.3
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.1	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.6	$1.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$23.3	$13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$0.96
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.9	$4.24
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.27	$5.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.95	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.95	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.6	$2.04
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$68.5	$48.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.55	$7.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$104	$34.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$16	$10.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$70.9	$39.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$140	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$814	$510
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16872	$21140

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	$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

Cities near Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2396
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2663
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$678
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$694
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1734
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$548
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$638
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$873
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$785
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$627
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$954
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$858
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$777
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$801
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$807
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$839
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$908
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$600
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$793
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$473
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$612
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$682
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$474
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$828
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$766
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$778
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$802
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$797
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$758
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$739
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$751
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$824
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$705
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$702
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$714
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$729
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$711
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$892
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$528
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$648