Cost of living comparison

Russia

compared to

Costa Rica

San Jose vs. Moscow Cost of Living Summary

San Jose is 11.1% more expensive than Moscow.

Restaurants: pay 38.7% more in San Jose
Groceries: pay 94.3% more in San Jose
Transportation: pay 20.4% more in San Jose
Housing: pay 18.9% less in San Jose
Childcare: pay 11.4% less in San Jose
Entertainment and Sports: pay 11.4% more in San Jose
Clothing: pay 21.6% less in San Jose

The cost of groceries, restaurants, transportation, and entertainment and sports in San Jose are more expensive than in Moscow. Expenses including clothing, housing, and childcare are lower in San Jose. Notably, groceries is significantly more expensive in San Jose.

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San Jose vs. Moscow Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 38.7% more for restaurants

	Moscow	San Jose
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.70 RUB966.60	$12.18 CRC5,543.94	+4.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.02 RUB579.96	$11.62 CRC5,289.15	+65.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.62 RUB133.67	$2.69 CRC1,222.04	+66.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.84 RUB69.07	$1.89 CRC858.35	+125.6%
Average			+38.7%

Moscow vs. San Jose - Cost of restaurants

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pay 94.3% more for groceries

	Moscow	San Jose
Bread 1 loaf	$1.02 RUB84.09	$3.09 CRC1,407.40	+203.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.14 RUB589.78	$5.33 CRC2,425.82	-25.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.61 RUB381.19	$8.95 CRC4,075.15	+94.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.86 RUB154.04	$3.49 CRC1,590.09	+87.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.98 RUB246.54	$4.71 CRC2,145.07	+58.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.93 RUB77.02	$2.32 CRC1,054.99	+148.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 RUB67.24	$0.73 CRC330.88	-10.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 RUB74.52	$2.15 CRC979.64	+138.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.79 RUB147.60	$1.76 CRC799.36	-1.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.41 RUB33.58	$1.73 CRC787.71	+325.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.32 RUB26.73	$1.66 CRC755.96	+413.5%
Average			+94.3%

Moscow vs. San Jose - Cost of groceries

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pay 20.4% more for transportation

	Moscow	San Jose
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.31 RUB273.63	$5.80 CRC2,637.53	+75.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$40.65 RUB3,358.95	$65.71 CRC29,903.89	+61.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$38,895.19 RUB3M	$21,990.00 CRC10M	-43.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.06 RUB831.28	$15.13 CRC6,887.86	+50.4%
Average			+20.4%

Moscow vs. San Jose - Cost of transportation

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pay 18.9% less for housing

	Moscow	San Jose
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.88 RUB816.43	$59.17 CRC26,929.00	+498.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,454.91 RUB120K	$942.15 CRC429K	-35.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$804.40 RUB66,468.30	$758.77 CRC345K	-5.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$142.85 RUB11,803.57	$72.33 CRC32,916.13	-49.4%
Average			-18.9%

Moscow vs. San Jose - Cost of housing

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pay 11.4% less for childcare

	Moscow	San Jose
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$809.00 RUB66,848.36	$980.95 CRC446K	+21.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$26,421.03 RUB2M	$17,102.76 CRC8M	-35.3%
Average			-11.4%

Moscow vs. San Jose - Cost of childcare

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pay 11.4% more for entertainment and sports

	Moscow	San Jose
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.68 RUB386.64	$3.29 CRC1,495.19	-29.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.70 RUB305.66	$4.44 CRC2,020.72	+20.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.45 RUB285.15	$5.91 CRC2,691.35	+71.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$42.01 RUB3,471.49	$72.94 CRC33,194.61	+73.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.36 RUB773.28	$7.67 CRC3,488.79	-18.1%
Average			+11.4%

Moscow vs. San Jose - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 21.6% less for clothing

	Moscow	San Jose
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$108.46 RUB8,962.59	$71.32 CRC32,458.76	-34.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$62.47 RUB5,161.67	$55.79 CRC25,389.75	-10.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$145.30 RUB12,006.61	$128.46 CRC58,460.15	-11.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$180.19 RUB14,889.43	$131.42 CRC59,807.77	-27.1%
Average			-21.6%

Moscow 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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