Cost of living comparison

compared to

Cartago vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Cartago is 42.4% more expensive than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 2.6 times more in Cartago
Groceries: pay 35.3% more in Cartago
Transportation: pay 34.9% more in Cartago
Housing: pay 94.9% more in Cartago
Childcare: pay 32.6% less in Cartago
Entertainment and Sports: pay 0.4% less in Cartago
Clothing: pay 7.8% more in Cartago

The cost of restaurants, housing, groceries, transportation, and clothing in Cartago are more expensive than in Bangkok. Expenses including childcare and entertainment and sports are lower in Cartago. Notably, restaurants and housing are significantly more expensive in Cartago.

Cartago vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.6 times more for restaurants

	Bangkok	Cartago
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.10 THB98.65	$7.93 CRC3,874.03	+155.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 THB197.30	$8.92 CRC4,358.28	+43.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 THB25.19	$1.98 CRC968.51	+150.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 THB10.61	$1.26 CRC613.39	+276.7%
Average			+156.7%

Bangkok vs. Cartago - Cost of restaurants

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pay 35.3% more for groceries

	Bangkok	Cartago
Bread 1 loaf	$1.44 THB45.81	$2.17 CRC1,062.13	+51.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.50 THB270.59	$3.97 CRC1,937.02	-53.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.23 THB230.01	$7.79 CRC3,804.39	+7.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.28 THB72.68	$2.88 CRC1,405.93	+26.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.38 THB43.91	$3.97 CRC1,938.45	+187.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.59 THB50.61	$1.94 CRC947.65	+22.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.82 THB25.98	$0.54 CRC263.58	-33.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 THB32.56	$1.80 CRC878.62	+75.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 THB27.13	$1.21 CRC593.07	+42.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB22.92	$0.90 CRC439.31	+24.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.65 THB20.65	$0.90 CRC439.31	+38.5%
Average			+35.3%

Bangkok vs. Cartago - Cost of groceries

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pay 34.9% more for transportation

	Bangkok	Cartago
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.69 THB149.30	$5.39 CRC2,634.01	+14.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.21 THB1,183.78	$69.61 CRC34,003.04	+87.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,206.42 THB1,183,775.25	$37,671.80 CRC18,401,642.97	+1.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.63 THB369.93	$15.82 CRC7,728.69	+36.1%
Average			+34.9%

Bangkok vs. Cartago - Cost of transportation

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pay 94.9% more for housing

	Bangkok	Cartago
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.91 THB537.90	$56.84 CRC27,763.88	+236.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$675.06 THB21,477.90	??
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$321.97 THB10,243.81	??
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.69 THB2,185.37	$36.82 CRC17,986.57	-46.4%
Average			+94.9%

Bangkok vs. Cartago - Cost of housing

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pay 32.6% less for childcare

	Bangkok	Cartago
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$609.37 THB19,388.11	$495.68 CRC242,126.88	-18.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,346.39 THB424,634.53	$7,137.82 CRC3,486,627.09	-46.5%
Average			-32.6%

Bangkok vs. Cartago - Cost of childcare

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pay 0.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Cartago
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.79 THB88.78	$1.98 CRC968.51	-28.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.54 THB80.83	$3.86 CRC1,884.12	+51.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.40 THB139.83	$5.16 CRC2,518.12	+17.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$51.03 THB1,623.73	$39.65 CRC19,370.15	-22.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.06 THB256.48	$6.44 CRC3,147.65	-20.1%
Average			-0.4%

Bangkok vs. Cartago - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 7.8% more for clothing

	Bangkok	Cartago
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.81 THB1,870.97	$61.79 CRC30,185.15	+5.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.03 THB1,210.07	$51.35 CRC25,083.06	+35.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.24 THB3,316.45	$109.05 CRC53,267.91	+4.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.47 THB2,910.11	$79.31 CRC38,740.30	-13.3%
Average			+7.8%

Bangkok vs. Cartago - 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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