Cost of living comparison

compared to

Alajuela vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Alajuela is 39.6% more expensive than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 2.8 times more in Alajuela
Groceries: pay 46.1% more in Alajuela
Transportation: pay 54.7% more in Alajuela
Housing: pay 32.7% more in Alajuela
Childcare: pay 66.8% less in Alajuela
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.2% more in Alajuela
Clothing: pay 15.7% more in Alajuela

The cost of restaurants, transportation, groceries, housing, clothing, and entertainment and sports in Alajuela are more expensive than in Bangkok. Notably, restaurants is significantly more expensive in Alajuela.

Alajuela vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Alajuela instead of Bangkok, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.8 times more for restaurants

	Bangkok	Alajuela
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.10 THB99.13	$9.91 CRC4,928.40	+219.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 THB198.27	$9.42 CRC4,681.98	+51.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 THB25.31	$2.06 CRC1,022.83	+159.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 THB10.66	$1.31 CRC648.91	+291.6%
Average			+180.8%

Bangkok vs. Alajuela - Cost of restaurants

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pay 46.1% more for groceries

	Bangkok	Alajuela
Bread 1 loaf	$1.44 THB46.04	$2.44 CRC1,213.75	+69.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.50 THB271.92	$4.96 CRC2,464.20	-41.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.23 THB231.14	$7.18 CRC3,570.78	-0.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.28 THB73.03	$2.26 CRC1,123.67	-1.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.38 THB44.12	$3.97 CRC1,972.82	+187.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.59 THB50.86	$1.79 CRC888.52	+12.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.82 THB26.11	$0.65 CRC325.16	-19.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 THB32.72	$1.95 CRC968.71	+90.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 THB27.27	$1.28 CRC635.16	+49.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB23.03	$1.29 CRC641.61	+79.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.65 THB20.76	$1.17 CRC583.35	+80.8%
Average			+46.1%

Bangkok vs. Alajuela - Cost of groceries

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pay 54.7% more for transportation

	Bangkok	Alajuela
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.69 THB150.03	$5.39 CRC2,680.72	+14.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.21 THB1,189.60	$111.03 CRC55,198.04	+198.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,206.42 THB1,189,604.53	$37,671.80 CRC18,727,905.52	+1.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.63 THB371.75	$12.12 CRC6,024.96	+4.2%
Average			+54.7%

Bangkok vs. Alajuela - Cost of transportation

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pay 32.7% more for housing

	Bangkok	Alajuela
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.91 THB540.54	$32.71 CRC16,263.71	+93.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$675.06 THB21,583.67	$693.95 CRC344,987.73	+2.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$321.97 THB10,294.25	$594.82 CRC295,703.77	+84.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.69 THB2,196.14	$34.11 CRC16,959.48	-50.3%
Average			+32.7%

Bangkok vs. Alajuela - Cost of housing

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pay 66.8% less for childcare

	Bangkok	Alajuela
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$609.37 THB19,483.59	$297.41 CRC147,851.89	-51.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,346.39 THB426,725.56	$2,339.62 CRC1,163,101.50	-82.5%
Average			-66.8%

Bangkok vs. Alajuela - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Alajuela
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.79 THB89.22	$2.18 CRC1,084.25	-21.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.54 THB81.22	$3.63 CRC1,807.08	+43.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.40 THB140.52	$4.96 CRC2,464.20	+12.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$51.03 THB1,631.73	$64.44 CRC32,034.58	+26.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.06 THB257.75	$8.92 CRC4,435.56	+10.7%
Average			+14.2%

Bangkok vs. Alajuela - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 15.7% more for clothing

	Bangkok	Alajuela
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.81 THB1,880.18	$61.79 CRC30,720.34	+5.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.03 THB1,216.03	$51.35 CRC25,527.78	+35.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.24 THB3,332.78	$118.96 CRC59,140.75	+14.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.47 THB2,924.44	$99.14 CRC49,283.96	+8.4%
Average			+15.7%

Bangkok vs. Alajuela - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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