Cost of living comparison

Senegal

compared to

Costa Rica

San Jose vs. Dakar Cost of Living Summary

San Jose is 28.5% more expensive than Dakar.

Restaurants: pay 75.3% more in San Jose
Groceries: pay 62.7% more in San Jose
Transportation: pay 28.7% less in San Jose
Housing: pay 20.2% more in San Jose
Childcare: pay 2.2 times more in San Jose
Entertainment and Sports: pay 35.2% more in San Jose
Clothing: pay 32.5% more in San Jose

The cost of childcare, restaurants, groceries, entertainment and sports, clothing, and housing in San Jose are more expensive than in Dakar. Notably, childcare and restaurants are significantly more expensive in San Jose.

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San Jose vs. Dakar Cost Breakdown

If you lived in San Jose instead of Dakar, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 75.3% more for restaurants

	Dakar	San Jose
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.12 F CFA2,990	$12.18 CRC5,543.94	+137.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.10 F CFA6,478	$11.62 CRC5,289.15	+4.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.22 F CFA715	$2.69 CRC1,222.04	+119.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.87 F CFA511	$1.89 CRC858.35	+115.6%
Average			+75.3%

Dakar vs. San Jose - Cost of restaurants

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pay 62.7% more for groceries

	Dakar	San Jose
Bread 1 loaf	$0.73 F CFA424	$3.09 CRC1,407.40	+326.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.68 F CFA5,066	$5.33 CRC2,425.82	-38.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$9.67 F CFA5,646	$8.95 CRC4,075.15	-7.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.47 F CFA1,442	$3.49 CRC1,590.09	+41.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.08 F CFA2,385	$4.71 CRC2,145.07	+15.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.45 F CFA849	$2.32 CRC1,054.99	+59.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.86 F CFA501	$0.73 CRC330.88	-15.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.32 F CFA768	$2.15 CRC979.64	+63.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.79 F CFA463	$1.76 CRC799.36	+121.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.62 F CFA362	$1.73 CRC787.71	+179.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.43 F CFA249	$1.66 CRC755.96	+290.1%
Average			+62.7%

Dakar vs. San Jose - Cost of groceries

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pay 28.7% less for transportation

	Dakar	San Jose
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.27 F CFA3,659	$5.80 CRC2,637.53	-7.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$76.82 F CFA44,847	$65.71 CRC29,903.89	-14.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$50,357.24 F CFA29M	$21,990.00 CRC10M	-56.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$19.20 F CFA11,212	$15.13 CRC6,887.86	-21.2%
Average			-28.7%

Dakar vs. San Jose - Cost of transportation

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pay 20.2% more for housing

	Dakar	San Jose
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$46.36 F CFA27,068	$59.17 CRC26,929.00	+27.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$810.84 F CFA473K	$942.15 CRC429K	+16.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$431.19 F CFA252K	$758.77 CRC345K	+76.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$155.27 F CFA90,649	$72.33 CRC32,916.13	-53.4%
Average			+20.2%

Dakar vs. San Jose - Cost of housing

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pay 2.2 times more for childcare

	Dakar	San Jose
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$321.49 F CFA188K	$980.95 CRC446K	+205.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,398.32 F CFA6M	$17,102.76 CRC8M	+64.5%
Average			+124.0%

Dakar vs. San Jose - Cost of childcare

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pay 35.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Dakar	San Jose
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.56 F CFA1,495	$3.29 CRC1,495.19	+28.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.37 F CFA1,968	$4.44 CRC2,020.72	+31.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.13 F CFA1,246	$5.91 CRC2,691.35	+177.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.81 F CFA26,161	$72.94 CRC33,194.61	+62.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.54 F CFA4,983	$7.67 CRC3,488.79	-10.2%
Average			+35.2%

Dakar vs. San Jose - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 32.5% more for clothing

	Dakar	San Jose
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.04 F CFA33,885	$71.32 CRC32,458.76	+22.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$45.52 F CFA26,576	$55.79 CRC25,389.75	+22.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$85.35 F CFA49,830	$128.46 CRC58,460.15	+50.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$96.73 F CFA56,474	$131.42 CRC59,807.77	+35.9%
Average			+32.5%

Dakar vs. San Jose - 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

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