Quality of life comparison
If you lived in California instead of Costa Rica, you would:
Health
be 13.1% less likely to be obese
In Costa Rica, 32.7% of adults are obese as of 2024. In California, that number is 28.4% of people as of 2022.
Economy
be 25.4% less likely to be unemployed
In Costa Rica, 6.8% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In California, that number is 5.1% as of 2025.
be 31.6% less likely to live below the poverty line
In Costa Rica, 17.1% live below the poverty line as of 2025. In California, however, that number is 11.7% as of 2023.
make 4.2 times more money
Costa Rica has a GDP per capita of $19,970 as of 2025, while in California, the GDP per capita is $84,028 as of 2024.
Sources: World Bank (2025), World Health Organization (2024), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PLACES) (2022), Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) (2023), Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024). How we calculate this
