Cost of living comparison

Latvia

compared to

Costa Rica

San Jose vs. Riga Cost of Living Summary

San Jose is 26.9% more expensive than Riga.

Restaurants: pay 3.4% more in San Jose
Groceries: pay 73.2% more in San Jose
Transportation: pay 3.0% more in San Jose
Housing: pay 36.4% more in San Jose
Childcare: pay 21.4% more in San Jose
Entertainment and Sports: pay 7.1% less in San Jose
Clothing: pay 12.8% more in San Jose

The cost of groceries, housing, childcare, clothing, restaurants, and transportation in San Jose are more expensive than in Riga.

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San Jose vs. Riga Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 3.4% more for restaurants

	Riga	San Jose
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$16.80 €14.95	$12.18 CRC5,543.94	-27.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.24 €8.22	$11.62 CRC5,289.15	+25.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.61 €1.44	$2.69 CRC1,222.04	+66.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.18 €1.05	$1.89 CRC858.35	+60.0%
Average			+3.4%

Riga vs. San Jose - Cost of restaurants

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pay 73.2% more for groceries

	Riga	San Jose
Bread 1 loaf	$1.43 €1.27	$3.09 CRC1,407.40	+116.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.22 €4.65	$5.33 CRC2,425.82	+2.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.41 €3.92	$8.95 CRC4,075.15	+103.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.76 €3.34	$3.49 CRC1,590.09	-7.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.91 €3.48	$4.71 CRC2,145.07	+20.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.00 €0.89	$2.32 CRC1,054.99	+132.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.83 €0.73	$0.73 CRC330.88	-12.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13 €1.00	$2.15 CRC979.64	+90.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.40 €1.24	$1.76 CRC799.36	+25.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.40 €0.36	$1.73 CRC787.71	+331.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.42 €0.37	$1.66 CRC755.96	+295.1%
Average			+73.2%

Riga vs. San Jose - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.0% more for transportation

	Riga	San Jose
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.75 €6.90	$5.80 CRC2,637.53	-25.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$33.59 €29.90	$65.71 CRC29,903.89	+95.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,308.11 €24,305.20	$21,990.00 CRC10M	-19.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.42 €10.17	$15.13 CRC6,887.86	+32.5%
Average			+3.0%

Riga vs. San Jose - Cost of transportation

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pay 36.4% more for housing

	Riga	San Jose
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$20.41 €18.17	$59.17 CRC26,929.00	+189.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$582.45 €518.40	$942.15 CRC429K	+61.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$385.02 €342.68	$758.77 CRC345K	+97.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$286.52 €255.02	$72.33 CRC32,916.13	-74.8%
Average			+36.4%

Riga vs. San Jose - Cost of housing

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pay 21.4% more for childcare

	Riga	San Jose
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$645.25 €574.29	$980.95 CRC446K	+52.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$17,635.84 €15,696.53	$17,102.76 CRC8M	-3.0%
Average			+21.4%

Riga vs. San Jose - Cost of childcare

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pay 7.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Riga	San Jose
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.60 €4.98	$3.29 CRC1,495.19	-41.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.72 €3.31	$4.44 CRC2,020.72	+19.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.72 €5.98	$5.91 CRC2,691.35	-12.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.91 €44.42	$72.94 CRC33,194.61	+46.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.75 €9.57	$7.67 CRC3,488.79	-28.7%
Average			-7.1%

Riga vs. San Jose - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 12.8% more for clothing

	Riga	San Jose
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$69.42 €61.79	$71.32 CRC32,458.76	+2.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$50.39 €44.85	$55.79 CRC25,389.75	+10.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$85.85 €76.41	$128.46 CRC58,460.15	+49.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$138.10 €122.91	$131.42 CRC59,807.77	-4.8%
Average			+12.8%

Riga 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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