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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Jose	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1398	$2640
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3421	$6276
🏠 One person rent	$662	$1578
🏘️ Family rent	$1102	$2764
🍽️ Food expenses	$509	$549
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.6	$366
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$981	$4008
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	60	99
😀 Quality of life	74	100
🏙️ Population	342K	5.45M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 47% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 4260th and 649th ($1398 vs $2640) 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 2458th and 3rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<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	$10.2	$13.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.6	$77.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.89	$9.79
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.74	$7.2
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$3.47
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$2.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$804	$1915
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$492	$1294
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1349	$3447
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$868	$2319
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.8	$112
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.9	$172
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.5	$47.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.54%	6.15%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2935	$12628
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1711	$7359
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$3.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.2	$134
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$23.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.43	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.08	$1.59
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.38	$2.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.99
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.11	$5.43
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.68	$8.55
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$3.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$2.98
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$4.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$2.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$2.36
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$0.8
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$2.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.2	$14.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$4.45
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.28	$29.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$8.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.94	$5.8
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.05	$2.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.79	$2.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.8	$58.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.97	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.6	$63.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$20
👖 Brand Jeans	$60	$75.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$126	$99.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$609	$2071
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12743	$19140

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 Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2181
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2292
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$1888
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1599
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1580
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1839
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1568
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1678
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1364
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2019
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1747
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1184
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1667
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1662
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1813
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2297
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2140
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1725
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1706
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1362
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1639
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1736
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1662
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1674
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1681
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2308
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1768
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1728
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1738
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2065
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1673
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1697
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1798
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2058
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1464
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1710