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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Jose	Stockholm
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1398	$2297
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3421	$5120
🏠 One person rent	$662	$1271
🏘️ Family rent	$1102	$2134
🍽️ Food expenses	$509	$619
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.6	$239
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$981	$3571
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	60	95
😀 Quality of life	74	96
🏙️ Population	342K	985K

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 39% less expensive than in Stockholm. Cities ranked 4260th and 1273rd ($1398 vs $2297) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Costa Rica and Sweden, respectively. Check Costa Rica vs Sweden comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica compared to 1.6 months in Stockholm. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Stockholm ranked 1st in Sweden, while ranked 2458th and 33rd among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Stockholm

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

	San Jose	Stockholm
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.2	$15.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.6	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.89	$11.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.74	$7.9
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$5.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$3.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$804	$1476
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$492	$991
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1349	$2670
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$868	$1674
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.8	$146
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.9	$224
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.5	$37
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.54%	4.09%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2935	$11690
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1711	$6502
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$4.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.2	$111
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.43	$1.84
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.08	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.38	$2.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.11	$4.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$14.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.68	$14.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$20.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$3.59
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.95
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$3.31
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$4.63
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$2
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$1.85
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$1.08
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$2.71
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.2	$13.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$2.11
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.28	$8.03
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$11.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.94	$3.83
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.05	$3.18
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.79	$2.45
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.8	$48.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.97	$17.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.6	$39.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$33.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$60	$104
👟 Brand Sneakers	$126	$124
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$609	$162
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12743	$15313

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 Stockholm

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.1 km or 3.2 mi	Solna	$1983
5.2 km or 3.3 mi	Lidingo	$1140
13 km or 7.9 mi	Taby	$1759
16 km or 9.9 mi	Sollentuna	$1968
21 km or 13 mi	Tumba	$1742
21 km or 13 mi	Akersberga	$1940
31 km or 19 mi	Sodertalje	$1779
35 km or 22 mi	Marsta	$1661
35 km or 22 mi	Sigtuna	$1681
63 km or 39 mi	Uppsala	$1650
87 km or 54 mi	Nykoping	$1592
92 km or 57 mi	Eskilstuna	$1446
92 km or 57 mi	Vasteras	$1494
105 km or 65 mi	Sala	$1325
138 km or 86 mi	Norrkoping	$1390
158 km or 98 mi	Gavle	$1483
163 km or 101 mi	Orebro	$1325
174 km or 108 mi	Linkoping	$1530
185 km or 115 mi	Ludvika	$1312
190 km or 118 mi	Visby	$1485
195 km or 121 mi	Borlange	$1289
195 km or 121 mi	Falun	$1801
253 km or 157 mi	Mariestad	$1516
258 km or 161 mi	Karlstad	$1460
262 km or 163 mi	Raisio	$1524
264 km or 164 mi	Skovde	$1551
265 km or 165 mi	Turku	$1545
268 km or 167 mi	Kaarina	$1521
271 km or 168 mi	Mora	$1586
274 km or 170 mi	Vetlanda	$1542
275 km or 171 mi	Rauma	$1353
281 km or 175 mi	Kuressaare	$1192
284 km or 177 mi	Jonkoping	$1528
297 km or 184 mi	Ventspils	$968
306 km or 190 mi	Salo	$1589
310 km or 193 mi	Raseborg	$1566
312 km or 194 mi	Arvika	$1397
313 km or 195 mi	Kalmar	$1598
315 km or 196 mi	Pori	$1363
332 km or 206 mi	Vaxjo	$1482