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

Updated: October 10, 2024

	San Jose	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1239	$2801
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3174	$6767
🏠 One person rent	$555	$1663
🏘️ Family rent	$1038	$3057
🍽️ Food expenses	$479	$569
🚐 Transport expenses	$75	$410
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$923	$4399
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	60	99
😀 Quality of life	65	99
🏙️ Population	342K	4.84M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 56% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 4497th and 312th ($1239 vs $2801) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in Costa Rica and Australia, respectively. Check Costa Rica vs Australia 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 Sydney. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 4226th and 4th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Sydney

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

	San Jose	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$15.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.2	$70.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.49	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.03	$7.41
☕ Cappuccino	$4.75	$3.54
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.91	$2.66
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$645	$1992
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$417	$1372
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1229	$4038
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$842	$2523
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.5	$114
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.6	$177
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.7	$53.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.24%	6.38%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1929	$16279
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1540	$9905
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.94	$3.46
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$40.8	$143
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.2	$29.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.41	$1.4
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.93	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.27	$2.86
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$2.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.34	$4.82
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$12.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$8.94
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14	$15
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.89	$3.42
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$2.92
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$3.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.75	$4.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.6	$2.54
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.6	$2.32
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.68	$0.98
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.05	$2.43
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.5	$14.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.28	$5.08
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.96	$29.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.1	$6.92
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.99	$5.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.75	$2.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.91	$2.9
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.9	$58.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.01	$16.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.7	$67.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.8	$20.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$70.6	$78.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$119	$117
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$501	$2054
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12846	$18951

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	$1246
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1233
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$961
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$1277
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1201
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1310
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$898
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1687
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$890
246 km or 153 mi	David	$833
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$664
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$697
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$712
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$774
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$550
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1056
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$457
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$639
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$593
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1098
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$638
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1091
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1182
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$953
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1249
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1384
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1231
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1249
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$829
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1081
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1088
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$715
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$734
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1192
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1173
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1161
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1145
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1202
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$650
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$883

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2286
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2472
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$1997
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1732
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1532
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1833
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1674
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1748
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1500
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2393
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1815
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1661
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1289
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1628
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1913
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1746
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1717
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$1958
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1829
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2300
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2141
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1805
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1800
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1397
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1635
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1876
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1877
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1738
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1758
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2397
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1822
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1799
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1795
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2491
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1757
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1767
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1925
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$1892
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1357
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1754