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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	San Jose	Zapopan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1324	$1021
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3344	$2412
🏠 One person rent	$606	$449
🏘️ Family rent	$1094	$742
🍽️ Food expenses	$499	$358
🚐 Transport expenses	$78	$131
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$990	$925
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	23 km
🎓 Higher education	60	49
😀 Quality of life	66	59
🏙️ Population	342K	1.48M

The cost of living in San Jose, Costa Rica is 30% more expensive than in Zapopan. Cities ranked 4143rd and 5351st ($1324 vs $1021) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 14th in Costa Rica and Mexico, respectively. Check Costa Rica vs Mexico 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 Zapopan. San Jose, Costa Rica ranked 1st best city to live in Costa Rica vs Zapopan ranked 3rd in Mexico, while ranked 4085th and 5375th among best cities to live in the world.

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

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

Prices in San Jose, Costa Rica vs Zapopan

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

	San Jose	Zapopan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.2	$9.72
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$38.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$8.54
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$2.2
☕ Cappuccino	$4.5	$3.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.97	$1.18
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$738	$542
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$444	$330
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1315	$978
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$874	$553
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.7	$50.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.5	$78.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$49.2	$25.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.31%	11.35%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2883	$5058
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1718	$452
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.98	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$41.6	$24.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$21
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.07	$1.29
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.32	$2.38
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.63
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.34	$1.98
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$8.33
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.97	$7.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$9.71
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$2.45
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$1.38
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.91	$1.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.68
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.88
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$2.32
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$0.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.17	$1.81
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.6	$9.85
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.43	$1.59
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.13	$3.96
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$5.94
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.94	$3.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.22	$1.77
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.77	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65	$44.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.08	$4.67
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$72.3	$27.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.2	$8.88
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.8	$46.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$125	$94.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$601	$162
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12527	$5821

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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	$1296
17 km or 11 mi	Alajuela	$1269
20 km or 12 mi	Cartago	$1024
82 km or 51 mi	Puntarenas	$801
115 km or 72 mi	Limon	$1225
124 km or 77 mi	Santa Teresa	$1213
167 km or 104 mi	Liberia	$932
197 km or 122 mi	Tamarindo	$1710
244 km or 151 mi	San Juan del Sur	$839
246 km or 153 mi	David	$890
279 km or 173 mi	Juigalpa	$666
302 km or 188 mi	Granada	$701
316 km or 196 mi	Masaya	$710
343 km or 213 mi	Managua	$738
387 km or 241 mi	Matagalpa	$624
398 km or 247 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1089
408 km or 253 mi	Jinotega	$455
413 km or 257 mi	Leon	$632
429 km or 266 mi	Esteli	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Penonome	$1116
447 km or 278 mi	Chinandega	$638
457 km or 284 mi	Chitre	$1117
463 km or 288 mi	Colon	$1172
486 km or 302 mi	La Chorrera	$957
508 km or 316 mi	Balboa	$1328
513 km or 319 mi	Panama City	$1479
524 km or 326 mi	Tocumen	$1310
535 km or 333 mi	Pacora	$1304
574 km or 357 mi	Tegucigalpa	$863
596 km or 370 mi	San Miguel	$1088
609 km or 378 mi	Usulutan	$1083
635 km or 395 mi	Comayagua	$753
666 km or 414 mi	Yoro	$755
696 km or 432 mi	San Salvador	$1204
697 km or 433 mi	Soyapango	$1182
701 km or 435 mi	Mejicanos	$1175
702 km or 436 mi	Apopa	$1160
703 km or 437 mi	Santa Tecla	$1194
713 km or 443 mi	La Ceiba	$626
729 km or 453 mi	El Progreso	$903

Cities near Zapopan

Distance	City	Cost of living
6.7 km or 4.2 mi	Guadalajara	$1017
11 km or 6.9 mi	Tlaquepaque	$660
99 km or 61 mi	La Barca	$778
113 km or 70 mi	Ciudad Guzman	$780
142 km or 88 mi	Zamora	$773
147 km or 91 mi	Autlan	$906
163 km or 101 mi	San Francisco del Rincon	$721
167 km or 104 mi	Lagos de Moreno	$831
168 km or 104 mi	Colima	$634
172 km or 107 mi	Aguascalientes	$796
179 km or 111 mi	Tepic	$587
183 km or 114 mi	Leon	$684
192 km or 119 mi	Puerto Vallarta	$1162
195 km or 121 mi	Zacapu	$804
200 km or 124 mi	Uruapan	$673
206 km or 128 mi	Silao	$768
208 km or 129 mi	Tecoman	$744
209 km or 130 mi	Manzanillo	$813
212 km or 131 mi	Apatzingan	$753
213 km or 132 mi	Irapuato	$667
214 km or 133 mi	Sayulita	$977
224 km or 139 mi	Guanajuato	$853
229 km or 142 mi	Salamanca	$634
243 km or 151 mi	Yuriria	$725
243 km or 151 mi	Zacatecas	$677
254 km or 158 mi	Cortazar	$693
256 km or 159 mi	Morelia	$717
269 km or 167 mi	Celaya	$638
276 km or 172 mi	San Miguel de Allende	$1139
278 km or 173 mi	Fresnillo	$760
296 km or 184 mi	San Luis Potosi	$808
313 km or 194 mi	Queretaro	$983
332 km or 206 mi	Lazaro Cardenas	$781
354 km or 220 mi	Rioverde	$846
355 km or 221 mi	San Juan del Rio	$826
370 km or 230 mi	San Jose Villa de Allende	$760
389 km or 242 mi	Durango	$662
394 km or 245 mi	Zihuatanejo	$856
419 km or 260 mi	Mazatlan	$1214
422 km or 262 mi	Toluca	$696