Cost of living comparison

Canada

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Canada Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 14.6% cheaper than Canada overall.

Restaurants: pay 13.4% less in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 4.3% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 4.8% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 37.0% less in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 0.1% more in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.5% less in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 24.7% more in Costa Rica

The cost of clothing, transportation, groceries, and childcare in Costa Rica are more expensive than in Canada. Expenses including housing, entertainment and sports, and restaurants are lower in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. Canada Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 13.4% less for restaurants

	Canada	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$17.02 CA$24.10	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	-34.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.30 CA$14.58	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	+5.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.01 CA$2.84	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+21.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.64 CA$2.32	$1.79 CRC813.02	+9.1%
Average			-13.4%

Canada vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 4.3% more for groceries

	Canada	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$2.51 CA$3.56	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+10.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.21 CA$7.37	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	-7.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.08 CA$11.44	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	+3.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.50 CA$4.95	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	+4.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.39 CA$7.62	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	-18.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.80 CA$2.54	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	+22.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.63 CA$0.90	$0.73 CRC329.98	+14.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 CA$2.34	$1.67 CRC758.13	+1.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.77 CA$2.50	$1.43 CRC652.25	-19.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.15 CA$1.63	$1.44 CRC655.18	+25.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 CA$1.53	$1.33 CRC603.93	+22.4%
Average			+4.3%

Canada vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 4.8% more for transportation

	Canada	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.47 CA$6.33	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	+29.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$65.05 CA$92.09	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	+2.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,172.47 CA$38,469.42	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-16.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$15.38 CA$21.77	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	+2.1%
Average			+4.8%

Canada vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 37.0% less for housing

	Canada	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$57.08 CA$80.80	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	-9.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,206.12 CA$1,707.57	$834.08 CRC380K	-30.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,084.12 CA$1,534.84	$597.43 CRC272K	-44.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$109.92 CA$155.62	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	-37.6%
Average			-37.0%

Canada vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 0.1% more for childcare

	Canada	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$708.00 CA$1,002.35	$742.27 CRC338K	+4.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,065.57 CA$19,913.32	$13,434.66 CRC6M	-4.5%
Average			+0.1%

Canada vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.5% less for entertainment and sports

	Canada	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.10 CA$7.22	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	-43.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.67 CA$5.19	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	+10.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$13.41 CA$18.98	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	-60.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$42.22 CA$59.77	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	+57.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.12 CA$15.74	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	-28.8%
Average			-14.5%

Canada vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 24.7% more for clothing

	Canada	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$53.28 CA$75.43	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	+26.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$40.15 CA$56.84	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	+23.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$86.30 CA$122.18	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+42.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$99.70 CA$141.15	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	+8.8%
Average			+24.7%

Canada 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: Canada vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 18 statistics

Make 64.1% less money in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Canada is about 195 times bigger than Costa Rica.

Moving from Canada to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

1,689 people born in Canada live in Costa Rica.

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