Cost of living comparison

compared to

North Korea vs. Costa Rica Cost of Living Summary

North Korea is 20.9% more expensive than Costa Rica overall.

Restaurants: pay 4.5% less in North Korea
Groceries: pay 27.2% less in North Korea
Housing: pay 70.6% less in North Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.9 times more in North Korea

Expenses including housing, groceries, and restaurants are lower in North Korea. Notably, entertainment and sports is significantly more expensive in North Korea.

North Korea vs. Costa Rica Cost Breakdown

If you lived in North Korea instead of Costa Rica, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 4.5% less for restaurants

	Costa Rica	North Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.77 CRC4,556.03	??
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.53 CRC4,445.52	??
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.00 CRC933.46	$2.34 KPW2,102	+16.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.57 CRC732.93	$1.17 KPW1,051	-25.7%
Average			-4.5%

Costa Rica vs. North Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 27.2% less for groceries

	Costa Rica	North Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$2.54 CRC1,184.44	$2.40 KPW2,161	-5.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.50 CRC2,099.09	??
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.52 CRC3,508.28	$3.70 KPW3,332	-50.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.80 CRC1,303.52	$2.08 KPW1,876	-25.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.83 CRC1,784.72	??
Apples (1 lb)	$1.78 CRC831.79	??
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.62 CRC286.77	??
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 CRC768.19	??
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.24 CRC579.15	??
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.28 CRC595.83	??
Onions (1 lb)	$1.10 CRC513.18	??
Average			-27.2%

Costa Rica vs. North Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay (unknown) more for transportation

	Costa Rica	North Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.47 CRC2,550.53	??
Monthly public transit pass	$54.59 CRC25,454.13	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,444.91 CRC17M	??
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$15.68 CRC7,310.89	??

Costa Rica vs. North Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 70.6% less for housing

	Costa Rica	North Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$49.17 CRC22,929.41	??
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$805.28 CRC375K	$93.44 KPW84,095	-88.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$555.89 CRC259K	$262.80 KPW237K	-52.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$63.57 CRC29,641.99	??
Average			-70.6%

Costa Rica vs. North Korea - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Costa Rica	North Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$517.09 CRC241K	??
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,552.94 CRC4M	??

Costa Rica vs. North Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.9 times more for entertainment and sports

	Costa Rica	North Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.59 CRC1,206.04	$14.02 KPW12,614	+441.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.84 CRC1,789.98	$1.17 KPW1,051	-69.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.70 CRC2,191.31	??
Monthly membership at local gym	$58.68 CRC27,361.71	??
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.11 CRC4,246.48	??
Average			+186.1%

Costa Rica vs. North Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Costa Rica	North Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.22 CRC27,145.66	??
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$44.70 CRC20,844.24	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$112.79 CRC52,593.47	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	$93.41 CRC43,554.72	??

Costa Rica vs. North Korea - 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: March 2026

Compare further: Costa Rica vs. North Korea

Quality of Life Comparison · 9 statistics

Make 93.4% less money in North Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

Costa Rica is about 2.4 times smaller than North Korea.

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