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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	San Jose	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1574	$2844
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3920	$6812
🏠 One person rent	$747	$1756
🏘️ Family rent	$1276	$3107
🍽️ Food expenses	$579	$592
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.8	$335
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1063	$4188
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	60	99
😀 Quality of life	73	100
🏙️ Population	335K	5.45M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 45% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 3714th and 370th ($1574 vs $2844) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd 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 1.5 months in Sydney. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 2425th and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$12.8	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.5	$81.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.8	$11.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.36	$7.3
☕ Cappuccino	$5.2	$3.97
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.34	$2.71
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$821	$2215
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$585	$1420
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1456	$3992
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1048	$2582
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$58.3	$126
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$89.7	$193
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$56.7	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.32%	5.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2299	$12962
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1800	$7403
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$3.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.4	$117
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16	$20.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.45	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.43	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.01	$2.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$2.09
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.5	$5.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$13.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.83	$9.72
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.9	$15.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.01	$3.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$3.08
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$3.19
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.76	$4.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$2.9
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.66	$2.27
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.1	$0.72
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.6	$2.95
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$23.3	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$4.08
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.9	$28.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.27	$8.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.95	$4.65
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.95	$3.58
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.6	$3.34
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$68.5	$66
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.55	$17.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$104	$70
💇 Haircut, simple	$16	$21.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$70.9	$77.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$140	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$814	$2275
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16872	$25164

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 Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2354
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2481
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$2040
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1709
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1695
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1995
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1701
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1795
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1460
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2258
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1855
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1273
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1825
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1816
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2672
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$2000
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2530
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2341
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1936
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1915
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1493
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1720
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1913
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1825
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1834
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2543
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1933
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1889
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1896
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2323
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1813
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1992
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2179
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1606
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1863