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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	San Jose	Suzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1324	$868
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3344	$2829
🏠 One person rent	$606	$312
🏘️ Family rent	$1094	$768
🍽️ Food expenses	$499	$326
🚐 Transport expenses	$78	$111
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$990	$1146
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	19 km
🎓 Higher education	60	70
😀 Quality of life	66	68
🏙️ Population	342K	12.7M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 53% more expensive than in Suzhou. Cities ranked 4143rd and 6198th ($1324 vs $868) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 18th 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 1.3 months in Suzhou. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Suzhou ranked 26th in China, while ranked 4085th and 3351st among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Suzhou

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

	San Jose	Suzhou
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.2	$4.09
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$41.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$5.55
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$4.13
☕ Cappuccino	$4.5	$4.11
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.97	$1.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$738	$386
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$444	$200
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1315	$1199
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$874	$526
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.7	$59.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.5	$93.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$49.2	$14.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.31%	4.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2883	$6107
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1718	$3223
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.98	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$41.6	$41.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$4.55
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.07	$2.54
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.32	$2.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.28
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.34	$2.33
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$20.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.97	$4.81
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$10.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$2.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$1.69
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.91	$1.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$0.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$1.3
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$0.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.17	$1.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.6	$13.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.43	$0.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.13	$4.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$8.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.94	$4.32
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.22	$1.18
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.77	$1.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65	$77.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.08	$6.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$72.3	$75.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.2	$8.03
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.8	$66.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$125	$79.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$601	$1457
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12527	$17431

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	$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 Suzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
35 km or 22 mi	Kunshan	$700
40 km or 25 mi	Changshu	$645
43 km or 27 mi	Wuxi	$670
49 km or 31 mi	Taicang	$665
63 km or 39 mi	Jiaxing	$573
64 km or 40 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
69 km or 43 mi	Huzhou	$670
75 km or 47 mi	Jiangyin	$657
76 km or 47 mi	Yixing	$695
80 km or 50 mi	Nantong	$602
82 km or 51 mi	Shanghai	$1097
83 km or 52 mi	Changzhou	$702
84 km or 52 mi	Haimen	$631
85 km or 53 mi	Jingjiang	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Pudong	$984
109 km or 68 mi	Liyang	$654
112 km or 70 mi	Taixing	$636
114 km or 71 mi	Qidong	$701
120 km or 75 mi	Rugao	$644
123 km or 77 mi	Guangde	$650
125 km or 78 mi	Hangzhou	$805
125 km or 78 mi	Danyang	$607
129 km or 80 mi	Yangzhong	$603
137 km or 85 mi	Hai'an	$643
145 km or 90 mi	Shaoxing	$716
148 km or 92 mi	Taizhou	$644
149 km or 93 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
156 km or 97 mi	Jurong	$621
164 km or 102 mi	Yangzhou	$620
173 km or 107 mi	Ningguo	$642
175 km or 109 mi	Yizheng	$592
175 km or 109 mi	Dongtai	$665
182 km or 113 mi	Xuancheng	$672
182 km or 113 mi	Ningbo	$708
194 km or 120 mi	Nanjing	$746
196 km or 122 mi	Xinghua	$665
198 km or 123 mi	Gaoyou	$621
202 km or 125 mi	Zhoushan	$590
214 km or 133 mi	Wuhu	$691
216 km or 134 mi	Tianchang	$613