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

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Jose	Tianjin
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1398	$646
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3421	$1842
🏠 One person rent	$662	$274
🏘️ Family rent	$1102	$483
🍽️ Food expenses	$509	$226
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.6	$65.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$981	$940
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	60	89
😀 Quality of life	74	74
🏙️ Population	342K	13.9M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 116% more expensive than in Tianjin. Cities ranked 4260th and 7452nd ($1398 vs $646) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 98th 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 1.5 months in Tianjin. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Tianjin ranked 9th in China, while ranked 2458th and 2435th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Tianjin

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

	San Jose	Tianjin
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.2	$3.67
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.6	$21.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.89	$5.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.74	$0.84
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$2.84
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$804	$325
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$492	$215
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1349	$586
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$868	$390
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.8	$30.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.9	$46.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.5	$7.05
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.54%	3.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2935	$5873
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1711	$2154
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.2	$11.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$4.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.43	$1.1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.08	$1.52
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.38	$1.72
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.09
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.11	$1.22
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$14.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.68	$3.18
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$10.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$1.31
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.48
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$1.31
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$0.77
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$0.87
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.94	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$0.99
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.2	$8.46
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$0.8
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.28	$4.06
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$5.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.94	$3.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.05	$1.04
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.79	$1.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.8	$14.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.97	$6.32
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.6	$57
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$3.37
👖 Brand Jeans	$60	$31.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$126	$77.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$609	$482
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12743	$18657

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 Tianjin

Distance	City	Cost of living
46 km or 29 mi	Binhai	$641
60 km or 37 mi	Langfang	$707
71 km or 44 mi	Bazhou	$634
87 km or 54 mi	Huanghua	$619
93 km or 58 mi	Sanhe	$750
99 km or 61 mi	Cangzhou	$638
99 km or 62 mi	Tangshan	$688
107 km or 67 mi	Renqiu	$565
109 km or 68 mi	Beijing	$1029
111 km or 69 mi	Zhuozhou	$724
117 km or 73 mi	Gaobeidian	$634
124 km or 77 mi	Hejian	$558
131 km or 82 mi	Botou	$564
133 km or 82 mi	Zunhua	$660
144 km or 90 mi	Luanzhou	$614
152 km or 94 mi	Baoding	$456
157 km or 98 mi	Laoling	$580
160 km or 99 mi	Qian'an	$616
182 km or 113 mi	Anguo	$533
192 km or 119 mi	Shenzhou	$505
204 km or 127 mi	Dezhou	$480
205 km or 127 mi	Dingzhou	$574
205 km or 128 mi	Hengshui	$454
209 km or 130 mi	Binzhou	$741
212 km or 132 mi	Chengde	$694
218 km or 136 mi	Dongying	$654
219 km or 136 mi	Xinji	$523
223 km or 138 mi	Qinhuangdao	$558
225 km or 140 mi	Jinzhou	$527
228 km or 142 mi	Jizhou	$499
237 km or 147 mi	Xinle	$535
241 km or 150 mi	Gaocheng	$527
242 km or 150 mi	Pingquan	$615
251 km or 156 mi	Yucheng	$544
255 km or 158 mi	Nangong	$550
258 km or 161 mi	Zouping	$562
265 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$505
271 km or 168 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
273 km or 170 mi	Zibo	$548
276 km or 172 mi	Jinan	$573