Cost of living comparison

Lesotho

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Lesotho Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 3.1 times more expensive than Lesotho overall.

Restaurants: pay 40.8% more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 73.4% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 45.2% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 8.7 times more in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 12.7 times more in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 96.1% more in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 2.7% more in Costa Rica

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

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Costa Rica vs. Lesotho Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 40.8% more for restaurants

	Lesotho	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.01 LSL148.38	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	+23.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.41 LSL138.49	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	+29.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.07 LSL17.56	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+127.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.84 LSL13.85	$1.79 CRC813.02	+112.4%
Average			+40.8%

Lesotho vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 73.4% more for groceries

	Lesotho	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$0.83 LSL13.60	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+235.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.30 LSL54.39	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	+45.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.38 LSL72.07	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	+91.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.54 LSL25.32	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	+136.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.79 LSL45.98	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	+57.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.85 LSL14.02	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	+158.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.02 LSL16.71	$0.73 CRC329.98	-28.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.23 LSL20.19	$1.67 CRC758.13	+35.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.09 LSL17.95	$1.43 CRC652.25	+31.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 LSL11.66	$1.44 CRC655.18	+103.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.73 LSL12.00	$1.33 CRC603.93	+82.0%
Average			+73.4%

Lesotho vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 45.2% more for transportation

	Lesotho	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.98 LSL81.93	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	+16.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.04 LSL494.60	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	+122.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,030.86 LSL346K	$22,830.95 CRC10M	+8.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.01 LSL98.92	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	+161.4%
Average			+45.2%

Lesotho vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 8.7 times more for housing

	Lesotho	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$38.30 LSL630.53	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	+34.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$93.14 LSL1,533.25	$834.08 CRC380K	+795.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$55.58 LSL915.01	$597.43 CRC272K	+974.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$68.56 CRC31,201.98
Average			+773.0%

Lesotho vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 12.7 times more for childcare

	Lesotho	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$52.06 LSL857.06	$742.27 CRC338K	+1325.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$1,181.73 LSL19,454.17	$13,434.66 CRC6M	+1036.9%
Average			+1173.1%

Lesotho vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 96.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Lesotho	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.80 LSL29.68	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	+61.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.00 LSL32.97	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	+102.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.11 LSL84.08	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	+3.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$23.03 LSL379.19	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	+188.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$7.92 CRC3,603.80
Average			+96.1%

Lesotho vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.7% more for clothing

	Lesotho	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.07 LSL758.38	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	+46.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$55.58 LSL915.01	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	-10.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.15 LSL1,714.61	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+17.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$150.22 LSL2,472.99	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	-27.8%
Average			+2.7%

Lesotho 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: Lesotho vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 18.3 times more money in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Lesotho is about 1.7 times smaller than Costa Rica.

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

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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