Cost of living comparison

Papua New Guinea

compared to

Costa Rica

San Jose vs. Port Moresby Cost of Living Summary

San Jose is 11.5% more expensive than Port Moresby.

Restaurants: pay 99.7% more in San Jose
Groceries: pay 5.8% more in San Jose
Transportation: pay 14.0% more in San Jose
Housing: pay 13.3% less in San Jose
Childcare: pay 79.6% more in San Jose
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.1% more in San Jose
Clothing: pay 30.6% more in San Jose

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

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San Jose vs. Port Moresby Cost Breakdown

If you lived in San Jose instead of Port Moresby, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 99.7% more for restaurants

	Port Moresby	San Jose
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.78 PGK35.37	$12.18 CRC5,543.94	+56.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.56 PGK25.27	$11.62 CRC5,289.15	+109.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 PGK3.41	$2.69 CRC1,222.04	+258.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.67 PGK3.03	$1.89 CRC858.35	+182.9%
Average			+99.7%

Port Moresby vs. San Jose - Cost of restaurants

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pay 5.8% more for groceries

	Port Moresby	San Jose
Bread 1 loaf	$1.52 PGK6.91	$3.09 CRC1,407.40	+103.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.32 PGK19.64	$5.33 CRC2,425.82	+23.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.10 PGK32.28	$8.95 CRC4,075.15	+26.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.69 PGK16.78	$3.49 CRC1,590.09	-5.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.58 PGK11.75	$4.71 CRC2,145.07	+82.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.95 PGK8.88	$2.32 CRC1,054.99	+18.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.44 PGK6.57	$0.73 CRC330.88	-49.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$3.29 PGK14.97	$2.15 CRC979.64	-34.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.92 PGK13.29	$1.76 CRC799.36	-39.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.51 PGK6.88	$1.73 CRC787.71	+14.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.31 PGK5.96	$1.66 CRC755.96	+26.8%
Average			+5.8%

Port Moresby vs. San Jose - Cost of groceries

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pay 14.0% more for transportation

	Port Moresby	San Jose
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.78 PGK17.18	$5.80 CRC2,637.53	+53.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$22.22 PGK101.06	$65.71 CRC29,903.89	+195.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$50,004.77 PGK227K	$21,990.00 CRC10M	-56.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$23.34 PGK106.12	$15.13 CRC6,887.86	-35.1%
Average			+14.0%

Port Moresby vs. San Jose - Cost of transportation

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pay 13.3% less for housing

	Port Moresby	San Jose
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$91.68 PGK416.89	$59.17 CRC26,929.00	-35.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,603.86 PGK7,293.44	$942.15 CRC429K	-41.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$555.61 PGK2,526.59	$758.77 CRC345K	+36.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$89.65 PGK407.67	$72.33 CRC32,916.13	-19.3%
Average			-13.3%

Port Moresby vs. San Jose - Cost of housing

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pay 79.6% more for childcare

	Port Moresby	San Jose
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$842.47 PGK3,831.07	$980.95 CRC446K	+16.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,176.41 PGK28,086.83	$17,102.76 CRC8M	+176.9%
Average			+79.6%

Port Moresby vs. San Jose - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Port Moresby	San Jose
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.00 PGK13.64	$3.29 CRC1,495.19	+9.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.47 PGK11.24	$4.44 CRC2,020.72	+79.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.45 PGK29.31	$5.91 CRC2,691.35	-8.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$61.49 PGK279.61	$72.94 CRC33,194.61	+18.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.89 PGK40.43	$7.67 CRC3,488.79	-13.8%
Average			+14.1%

Port Moresby vs. San Jose - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 30.6% more for clothing

	Port Moresby	San Jose
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$32.73 PGK148.82	$71.32 CRC32,458.76	+117.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$31.67 PGK144.02	$55.79 CRC25,389.75	+76.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$136.12 PGK619.02	$128.46 CRC58,460.15	-5.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$163.90 PGK745.35	$131.42 CRC59,807.77	-19.8%
Average			+30.6%

Port Moresby 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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