Cost of living comparison

Albania

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Albania Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 45.8% more expensive than Albania overall.

Restaurants: pay 30.9% more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 67.2% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 3.3% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 58.3% more in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 3.2 times more in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 25.1% more in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 8.4% more in Costa Rica

The cost of childcare, groceries, housing, restaurants, entertainment and sports, and clothing in Costa Rica are more expensive than in Albania. Notably, childcare is significantly more expensive in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. Albania Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Costa Rica instead of Albania, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 30.9% more for restaurants

	Albania	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.26 ALL752	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	+20.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.38 ALL680	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	+29.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.93 ALL157	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+25.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.87 ALL71	$1.79 CRC813.02	+105.6%
Average			+30.9%

Albania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 67.2% more for groceries

	Albania	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$1.04 ALL84	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+167.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.44 ALL442	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	-11.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.68 ALL624	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	+8.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.12 ALL254	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	+16.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.48 ALL283	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	+26.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.72 ALL58	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	+206.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.06 ALL86	$0.73 CRC329.98	-31.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.76 ALL61	$1.67 CRC758.13	+120.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ALL57	$1.43 CRC652.25	+105.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.46 ALL37	$1.44 CRC655.18	+213.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.52 ALL42	$1.33 CRC603.93	+154.0%
Average			+67.2%

Albania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.3% more for transportation

	Albania	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$8.37 ALL679	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	-30.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$19.20 ALL1,559	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	+248.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,477.94 ALL2M	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-25.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$29.52 ALL2,397	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	-46.8%
Average			+3.3%

Albania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 58.3% more for housing

	Albania	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.78 ALL1,363	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	+207.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$559.99 ALL45,481	$834.08 CRC380K	+48.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$345.46 ALL28,057	$597.43 CRC272K	+72.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$58.30 ALL4,735	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	+17.6%
Average			+58.3%

Albania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 3.2 times more for childcare

	Albania	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$196.72 ALL15,977	$742.27 CRC338K	+277.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$4,891.77 ALL397K	$13,434.66 CRC6M	+174.6%
Average			+221.9%

Albania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 25.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Albania	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.71 ALL220	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	+7.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.97 ALL160	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	+106.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.42 ALL359	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	+19.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.63 ALL4,356	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	+23.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.11 ALL659	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	-2.4%
Average			+25.1%

Albania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 8.4% more for clothing

	Albania	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$56.21 ALL4,566	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	+20.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$43.02 ALL3,494	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	+15.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$100.53 ALL8,165	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+22.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$132.41 ALL10,754	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	-18.0%
Average			+8.4%

Albania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Albania vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 17 statistics

Make 53.6% more money in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Albania is about 1.8 times smaller than Costa Rica.

Moving from Albania to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

4 people born in Albania live in Costa Rica.

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