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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Jose	Tenerife
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1398	$1705
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3421	$3809
🏠 One person rent	$662	$1005
🏘️ Family rent	$1102	$1677
🍽️ Food expenses	$509	$427
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.6	$134
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$981	$1533
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	25 km
🎓 Higher education	60	18
😀 Quality of life	74	66
🏙️ Population	342K	955K

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 18% less expensive than in Tenerife. Cities ranked 4260th and 3094th ($1398 vs $1705) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 10th in Costa Rica and Spain, respectively. Check Costa Rica vs Spain comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in San Jose, Costa Rica compared to 0.9 months in Tenerife. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Tenerife ranked 84th in Spain, while ranked 2458th and 5034th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Tenerife

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

	San Jose	Tenerife
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.2	$12.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.6	$55.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.89	$9.83
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.74	$3.03
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$1.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$804	$1006
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$492	$880
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1349	$1799
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$868	$1477
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.8	$68.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.9	$106
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.5	$30.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.54%	3.39%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2935	$3896
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1711	$2828
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$1.66
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.2	$40.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$19.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.43	$1.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.08	$1.22
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.38	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.11	$3.43
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$13.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.68	$9.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$14.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$2.03
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$1.65
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$2.57
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$2.11
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$2.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$0.57
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$2.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.2	$4.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$1.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.28	$4.78
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$8.21
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.94	$3.15
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.05	$2.27
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.79	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.8	$50.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.97	$9.32
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.6	$85
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$13.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$60	$89.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$126	$94
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$609	$397
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12743	$6640

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 Tenerife

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.7 mi	La Orotava	$1633
17 km or 11 mi	Puerto de la Cruz	$1702
37 km or 23 mi	San Cristobal de La Laguna	$1539
41 km or 26 mi	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	$1567
112 km or 69 mi	Santa Lucia de Tirajana	$1455
116 km or 72 mi	Las Palmas	$1484
269 km or 167 mi	Puerto del Rosario	$1278
272 km or 169 mi	Corralejo	$1658
308 km or 191 mi	Arrecife	$1352
358 km or 222 mi	Laayoune	$629
487 km or 302 mi	Canico	$1519
488 km or 303 mi	Funchal	$1561
488 km or 303 mi	Camara de Lobos	$1513
490 km or 305 mi	Santa Cruz	$1517
495 km or 307 mi	Machico	$1515
715 km or 444 mi	Taghazout	$602
721 km or 448 mi	Agadir	$623
726 km or 451 mi	Ait Melloul	$591
751 km or 467 mi	Essaouira	$693
837 km or 520 mi	Safi	$548
911 km or 566 mi	Marrakesh	$765
951 km or 591 mi	El Jadida	$557
1041 km or 647 mi	Casablanca	$936
1061 km or 659 mi	Khouribga	$501
1065 km or 662 mi	Mohammedia	$721
1082 km or 672 mi	Beni Mellal	$477
1116 km or 694 mi	Temara	$680
1128 km or 701 mi	Rabat	$790
1131 km or 703 mi	Sale	$619
1135 km or 705 mi	Nouakchott	$662
1161 km or 721 mi	Kenitra	$604
1223 km or 760 mi	Meknes	$578
1230 km or 764 mi	Lagos	$1724
1241 km or 771 mi	Portimao	$1347
1245 km or 774 mi	Lagoa	$1428
1251 km or 777 mi	Silves	$1468
1253 km or 779 mi	Albufeira	$1910
1266 km or 787 mi	Faro	$1380
1271 km or 790 mi	Loule	$1512
1272 km or 791 mi	Olhao	$1401