Cost of living comparison

Portugal

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Portugal Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 7.3% more expensive than Portugal overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.1% less in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 35.1% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 10.0% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 14.7% less in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 4.0% less in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.7% more in Costa Rica

The cost of groceries, entertainment and sports, and transportation in Costa Rica are more expensive than in Portugal. Expenses including housing, childcare, restaurants, and clothing are lower in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica vs. Portugal Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.1% less for restaurants

	Portugal	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$13.13 €11.26	$9.77 CRC4,417.02	-25.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.44 €8.09	$9.53 CRC4,309.89	+1.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.93 €1.65	$2.00 CRC904.98	+3.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.40 €1.20	$1.57 CRC710.57	+12.6%
Average			-2.1%

Portugal vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 35.1% more for groceries

	Portugal	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$1.52 €1.30	$2.54 CRC1,148.30	+67.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.73 €4.91	$4.50 CRC2,035.05	-21.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.12 €3.53	$7.52 CRC3,401.24	+82.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.14 €2.69	$2.80 CRC1,263.75	-10.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.42 €2.93	$3.83 CRC1,730.27	+12.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.06 €0.91	$1.78 CRC806.42	+68.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.68 €0.58	$0.62 CRC278.02	-9.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.84 €0.72	$1.65 CRC744.76	+95.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.17 €1.00	$1.24 CRC561.48	+6.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.74 €0.64	$1.28 CRC577.65	+72.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.90 €0.77	$1.10 CRC497.52	+22.4%
Average			+35.1%

Portugal vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 10.0% more for transportation

	Portugal	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.46 €6.40	$5.47 CRC2,472.71	-26.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$39.12 €33.54	$54.59 CRC24,677.53	+39.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$34,916.24 €29,936.73	$36,444.91 CRC16M	+4.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.78 €10.96	$15.68 CRC7,087.84	+22.7%
Average			+10.0%

Portugal vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 14.7% less for housing

	Portugal	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$41.01 €35.16	$49.17 CRC22,229.84	+19.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$954.63 €818.49	$805.28 CRC364K	-15.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$787.92 €675.55	$555.89 CRC251K	-29.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$95.92 €82.24	$63.57 CRC28,737.62	-33.7%
Average			-14.7%

Portugal vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 4.0% less for childcare

	Portugal	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$512.86 €439.72	$517.09 CRC234K	+0.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,479.69 €8,985.15	$9,552.94 CRC4M	-8.8%
Average			-4.0%

Portugal vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Portugal	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.56 €2.19	$2.59 CRC1,169.24	+1.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.05 €1.75	$3.84 CRC1,735.37	+87.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.30 €5.40	$4.70 CRC2,124.45	-25.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.69 €38.32	$58.68 CRC26,526.92	+31.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.76 €7.51	$9.11 CRC4,116.92	+4.0%
Average			+19.7%

Portugal vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Portugal	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$82.22 €70.50	$58.22 CRC26,317.45	-29.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.56 €33.92	$44.70 CRC20,208.29	+13.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$89.53 €76.76	$112.79 CRC50,988.85	+26.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$103.44 €88.69	$93.41 CRC42,225.88	-9.7%

Portugal vs. Costa Rica - 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: June 2026

Compare further: Portugal vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 11 statistics

Be 55.5% more likely to live below the poverty line in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Portugal is about 1.8 times bigger than Costa Rica.

Moving from Portugal to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

94 people born in Portugal live in Costa Rica.

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