Cost of living comparison

Costa Rica

compared to

Netherlands

Netherlands vs. Costa Rica Cost of Living Summary

Netherlands is 43.6% more expensive than Costa Rica overall.

Restaurants: pay 62.1% more in Netherlands
Groceries: pay 11.8% less in Netherlands
Transportation: pay 61.1% more in Netherlands
Housing: pay 89.5% more in Netherlands
Childcare: pay 38.0% more in Netherlands
Entertainment and Sports: pay 34.6% more in Netherlands
Clothing: pay 4.6% more in Netherlands

The cost of housing, restaurants, transportation, childcare, entertainment and sports, and clothing in Netherlands are more expensive than in Costa Rica. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Netherlands.

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Netherlands vs. Costa Rica Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 62.1% more for restaurants

	Costa Rica	Netherlands
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	$22.24 €19.80	+99.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	$13.74 €12.23	+26.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	$3.60 €3.21	+48.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.79 CRC813.02	$2.95 €2.62	+65.1%
Average			+62.1%

Costa Rica vs. Netherlands - Cost of restaurants

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pay 11.8% less for groceries

	Costa Rica	Netherlands
Bread 1 loaf	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	$2.06 €1.84	-25.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	$6.70 €5.96	+39.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	$5.08 €4.52	-39.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	$4.71 €4.19	+29.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	$6.35 €5.65	+44.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	$1.16 €1.03	-47.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 CRC329.98	$1.07 €0.95	+47.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.67 CRC758.13	$0.91 €0.81	-45.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.43 CRC652.25	$1.94 €1.73	+35.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.44 CRC655.18	$0.83 €0.74	-42.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.33 CRC603.93	$0.86 €0.76	-35.2%
Average			-11.8%

Costa Rica vs. Netherlands - Cost of groceries

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pay 61.1% more for transportation

	Costa Rica	Netherlands
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	$9.11 €8.11	+57.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	$95.45 €84.95	+42.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$22,830.95 CRC10M	$40,608.58 €36,143.10	+77.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	$27.41 €24.40	+74.5%
Average			+61.1%

Costa Rica vs. Netherlands - Cost of transportation

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pay 89.5% more for housing

	Costa Rica	Netherlands
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	$48.29 €42.98	-6.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$834.08 CRC380K	$1,426.76 €1,269.87	+71.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$597.43 CRC272K	$1,174.28 €1,045.15	+96.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	$196.24 €174.66	+186.2%
Average			+89.5%

Costa Rica vs. Netherlands - Cost of housing

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pay 38.0% more for childcare

	Costa Rica	Netherlands
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$742.27 CRC338K	$1,884.17 €1,676.98	+153.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,434.66 CRC6M	$10,083.31 €8,974.51	-24.9%
Average			+38.0%

Costa Rica vs. Netherlands - Cost of childcare

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pay 34.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Costa Rica	Netherlands
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	$6.25 €5.56	+115.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	$4.16 €3.70	+2.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	$13.60 €12.11	+157.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	$40.62 €36.16	-38.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	$15.51 €13.81	+95.9%
Average			+34.6%

Costa Rica vs. Netherlands - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.6% more for clothing

	Costa Rica	Netherlands
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	$89.45 €79.61	+32.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	$43.43 €38.65	-12.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	$100.67 €89.60	-17.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	$136.42 €121.42	+25.7%
Average			+4.6%

Costa Rica vs. Netherlands - 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. Netherlands

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Netherlands?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 3.7 times more money in Netherlands

Size Comparison · See true size

Costa Rica is about 1.2 times bigger than Netherlands.

Moving from Costa Rica to Netherlands · OECD 2023

108 people moved from Costa Rica to Netherlands.

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