See also: food prices Prices in restaurants entertainment costs
Cost of living and expenses in Costa Rica
What are the costs of living, how much do you have to spend on fees and expenses in Costa Rica?
What is the cost of a mortgage, what are the average earnings in Costa Rica, and how much do you have to spend on clothes or a flat in the centre or on the outskirts of the city?
Below you will read about the expenses, fees, rental prices, how much you have to pay for clothes or shoes and the cost of living in Costa Rica
(The last update: 6 days ago)
Currency in Costa Rica Costa Rican colón (CRC). For 10 US dollars you can get 5.04 thousand Costa Rican colóns. For 100 US dollars you can get 50.4 thousand Costa Rican colóns. And the other way around: For 100 Costa Rican colóns you can get 0.198 US dollars.
See also how prices have changed in previous years: Price changes in previous years in Costa Rica
What are the different prices in the cities in Costa Rica? Look here: Prices in cities in Costa Rica
Prices: Alajuela Guadalupe San Jose Santa Ana Cartago Samara Liberia Puntarenas Curridabat Quesada
fees
$87 ($50 - $198)
by half less than in United States
internet
$51 ($40 - $69)
28% is less expensive than in United States
jeans
$75 ($40 - $99)
by half more than in United States
average earnings
$912
80% is less expensive than in United States
renting a small apartment in the center
$664 ($397 - $1.31K)
63% is less expensive than in United States
renting a large apartment outside the center
$899 ($595 - $1.59K)
63% is less expensive than in United States
The cost of living in Costa Rica:
- One-way Ticket (Local Transport) $0.99 (CRC 500)
- Monthly Pass (Regular Price) $42 (CRC 21.3K)
- Gasoline (1 liter) $1.5 (CRC 769)
- Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW (or equivalent new car) $32.1K (CRC 16.2M)
- Apartment (1 bedroom) in city centre $664 (CRC 335K)
- Apartment (1 bedroom) outside of centre $474 (CRC 239K)
- Apartment (3 bedrooms) in city centre $1.26K (CRC 635K)
- Apartment (3 bedrooms) outside of centre $899 (CRC 454K)
- Utilities (electricity, heating, water, garbage) for an 85m2 apartment $87 (CRC 43.7K)
- Internet (60 Mbps or more, unlimited data, cable/ADSL) $51 (CRC 25.8K)
- numb_34 $24 (CRC 12.3K)
- 1 pair of jeans (Levis 501 or similar) $75 (CRC 37.9K)
- 1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M,...) $52 (CRC 26.4K)
- 1 pair of Nike running shoes or similar $117 (CRC 59.1K)
- 1 pair of men's leather shoes $102 (CRC 51.6K)
- Toyota Corolla 1.6l, 97kW Comfort (or equivalent new car) $34.3K (CRC 17.3M)
- Preschool (or Kindergarten), Private, Monthly for 1 Child $472 (CRC 238K)
- Price per square meter for an apartment in the city center $1.91K (CRC 963K)
- International Primary School, Annually for 1 Child $9.23K (CRC 4.66M)
- Price per square meter for an apartment outside of city centre $1.3K (CRC 653K)
- Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) $912 (CRC 460K)
- Mortgage annual interest rate in percentages (%) 9.9%
- Taxi starting fare (normal tariff) $1.8 (CRC 900)
- Taxi 1km (Normal Tariff) $1.8 (CRC 910)
- Taxi 1 hour waiting (normal tariff) $7.4 (CRC 3.72K)
Price changes in previous years in Costa Rica
Price changes in One Square Meter Of An Apartment In The Center over the years: 2011: $1.87K(CRC 942K), 2012: $1.11K(CRC 562K), 2014: $1.09K(CRC 548K), 2015: $1.69K(CRC 854K), 2016: $1.81K(CRC 914K), 2017: $1.64K(CRC 828K), and 2018: $2.03K(CRC 1.03M)
Have earnings increased in Costa Rica?
See the average salary in previous years in 2011: $820(CRC 413K), 2012: $717(CRC 362K), 2013: $808(CRC 407K), 2014: $882(CRC 445K), 2015: $978(CRC 493K), 2016: $868(CRC 438K), 2017: $859(CRC 433K), and 2018: $871(CRC 439K)
Price changes in Fees over the years: 2011: $47(CRC 23.6K), 2012: $66(CRC 33.2K), 2013: $61(CRC 30.8K), 2014: $102(CRC 51.4K), 2015: $72(CRC 36.4K), 2016: $68(CRC 34.4K), 2017: $83(CRC 41.7K), and 2018: $87(CRC 43.9K)
Price changes in Internet over the years: 2011: $43(CRC 21.9K), 2012: $55(CRC 27.7K), 2013: $59(CRC 29.8K), 2014: $64(CRC 32.4K), 2015: $49(CRC 24.9K), 2016: $51(CRC 25.9K), 2017: $59(CRC 30K), and 2018: $82(CRC 41.3K)
Have prices changed in clothing stores in Costa Rica in recent years?
For example, this is how the prices of jeans have changed in 2011: $53(CRC 26.8K), 2012: $51(CRC 25.7K), 2013: $67(CRC 33.7K), 2014: $72(CRC 36.3K), 2015: $65(CRC 32.9K), 2016: $71(CRC 35.8K), 2017: $79(CRC 40K), and 2018: $75(CRC 38K)
Do you want to learn more about different prices? See the following comparison:
bottle of water
$1.6 ($1.2 - $2.6)
22% is less expensive than in United States
average earnings
$912
80% is less expensive than in United States
internet
$51 ($40 - $69)
28% is less expensive than in United States
cheese
$8.4 ($4 - $16.2)
34% is less expensive than in United States
local beer
$3 ($1.9 - $5.9)
by half less than in United States
cheap restaurant
$9.9 ($5.9 - $19.8)
by half less than in United States