Cost of living comparison

Costa Rica

compared to

Malta

Malta vs. Costa Rica Cost of Living Summary

Malta is 6.1% more expensive than Costa Rica overall.

Restaurants: pay 25.1% more in Malta
Groceries: pay 17.9% less in Malta
Transportation: pay 5.5% less in Malta
Housing: pay 37.5% more in Malta
Childcare: pay 40.8% less in Malta
Entertainment and Sports: pay 5.5% more in Malta
Clothing: pay 6.0% less in Malta

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

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Malta vs. Costa Rica Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 25.1% more for restaurants

	Costa Rica	Malta
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	$17.59 €15.66	+57.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	$11.93 €10.62	+10.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	$2.30 €2.05	-5.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.79 CRC813.02	$1.63 €1.45	-8.5%
Average			+25.1%

Costa Rica vs. Malta - Cost of restaurants

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pay 17.9% less for groceries

	Costa Rica	Malta
Bread 1 loaf	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	$1.27 €1.13	-54.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	$4.61 €4.10	-4.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	$4.97 €4.42	-40.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	$3.68 €3.28	+1.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	$4.47 €3.98	+1.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	$1.53 €1.36	-30.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 CRC329.98	$1.12 €1.00	+54.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.67 CRC758.13	$1.43 €1.27	-14.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.43 CRC652.25	$1.43 €1.28
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.44 CRC655.18	$0.90 €0.80	-37.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.33 CRC603.93	$0.98 €0.87	-26.5%
Average			-17.9%

Costa Rica vs. Malta - Cost of groceries

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pay 5.5% less for transportation

	Costa Rica	Malta
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	$5.68 €5.06	-1.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	$33.91 €30.18	-49.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$22,830.95 CRC10M	$30,620.29 €27,253.16	+34.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	$21.36 €19.01	+36.0%
Average			-5.5%

Costa Rica vs. Malta - Cost of transportation

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pay 37.5% more for housing

	Costa Rica	Malta
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	$32.05 €28.52	-38.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$834.08 CRC380K	$1,159.66 €1,032.14	+39.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$597.43 CRC272K	$956.81 €851.60	+60.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	$79.40 €70.66	+15.8%
Average			+37.5%

Costa Rica vs. Malta - Cost of housing

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pay 40.8% less for childcare

	Costa Rica	Malta
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$742.27 CRC338K	$319.34 €284.22	-57.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,434.66 CRC6M	$10,947.32 €9,743.51	-18.5%
Average			-40.8%

Costa Rica vs. Malta - Cost of childcare

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pay 5.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Costa Rica	Malta
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	$3.82 €3.40	+31.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	$2.66 €2.36	-34.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	$6.40 €5.69	+20.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	$65.65 €58.43	-1.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	$10.37 €9.23	+31.0%
Average			+5.5%

Costa Rica vs. Malta - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 6.0% less for clothing

	Costa Rica	Malta
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	$72.72 €64.73	+7.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	$49.01 €43.62	-1.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	$95.91 €85.36	-21.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	$101.59 €90.42	-6.4%
Average			-6.0%

Costa Rica vs. Malta - 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: Costa Rica vs. Malta

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 2.4 times more money in Malta

Size Comparison · See true size

Costa Rica is about 162 times bigger than Malta.

Moving from Costa Rica to Malta · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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