Cost of living comparison

Barbados

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Barbados Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 24.0% cheaper than Barbados overall.

Restaurants: pay 26.9% less in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 26.5% less in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 38.9% less in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 26.2% less in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 16.1% less in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 45.1% more in Costa Rica

Expenses including transportation, restaurants, groceries, housing, and entertainment and sports are lower in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. Barbados Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 26.9% less for restaurants

	Barbados	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$22.50 BBD45.00	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	-50.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.25 BBD22.50	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	-3.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.28 BBD4.57	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+6.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.62 BBD3.25	$1.79 CRC813.02	+9.9%
Average			-26.9%

Barbados vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 26.5% less for groceries

	Barbados	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$3.24 BBD6.48	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	-14.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.91 BBD7.82	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	+23.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$14.47 BBD28.93	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	-42.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.13 BBD12.26	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	-40.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.50 BBD9.00	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	-2.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.38 BBD4.76	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	-7.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.70 BBD3.41	$0.73 CRC329.98	-57.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.44 BBD4.87	$1.67 CRC758.13	-31.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.46 BBD4.91	$1.43 CRC652.25	-41.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.96 BBD3.91	$1.44 CRC655.18	-26.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.62 BBD3.24	$1.33 CRC603.93	-18.1%
Average			-26.5%

Barbados vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 38.9% less for transportation

	Barbados	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.73 BBD15.46	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	-25.2%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$66.80 CRC30,402.28
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$43,750.00 BBD87,500.00	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-47.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$32.40 BBD64.80	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	-51.5%
Average			-38.9%

Barbados vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 26.2% less for housing

	Barbados	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$83.96 BBD167.92	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	-38.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$925.00 BBD1,850.00	$834.08 CRC380K	-9.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$900.00 BBD1,800.00	$597.43 CRC272K	-33.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$112.79 BBD225.59	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	-39.2%
Average			-26.2%

Barbados vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Barbados	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$742.27 CRC338K
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$13,434.66 CRC6M

Barbados vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 16.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Barbados	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.75 BBD5.50	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	+5.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.13 BBD10.27	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	-20.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$7.00 BBD14.00	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	-24.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$69.17 BBD138.33	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	-4.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.88 BBD23.75	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	-33.3%
Average			-16.1%

Barbados vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 45.1% more for clothing

	Barbados	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$49.38 BBD98.75	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	+36.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$26.88 BBD53.75	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	+84.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$93.12 BBD186.25	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+31.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$81.25 BBD162.50	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	+33.6%
Average			+45.1%

Barbados 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: Barbados vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 17 statistics

Make 29.6% less money in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Barbados is about 119 times smaller than Costa Rica.

Moving from Barbados to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

13 people born in Barbados live in Costa Rica.

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