Cost of living comparison

Romania

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Romania Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 65.8% more expensive than Romania overall.

Restaurants: pay 27.0% more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 2.1 times more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 28.9% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 91.1% more in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 70.3% more in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 36.6% more in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 32.4% more in Costa Rica

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

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Costa Rica vs. Romania Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 27.0% more for restaurants

	Romania	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.82 RON46.44	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	+13.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.22 RON34.13	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	+50.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.87 RON8.86	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+29.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.57 RON7.43	$1.79 CRC813.02	+13.7%
Average			+27.0%

Romania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.1 times more for groceries

	Romania	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$1.10 RON5.19	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+152.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.76 RON17.78	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	+28.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.36 RON25.36	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	+56.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.91 RON13.77	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	+24.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.69 RON12.72	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	+63.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.51 RON2.42	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	+331.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.67 RON3.18	$0.73 CRC329.98	+7.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.65 RON3.08	$1.67 CRC758.13	+156.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.89 RON4.19	$1.43 CRC652.25	+61.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.35 RON1.66	$1.44 CRC655.18	+309.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.36 RON1.70	$1.33 CRC603.93	+268.8%
Average			+107.1%

Romania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 28.9% more for transportation

	Romania	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.55 RON30.98	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	-11.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$23.38 RON110.58	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	+185.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,083.66 RON128K	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-15.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.64 RON31.43	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	+136.5%
Average			+28.9%

Romania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 91.1% more for housing

	Romania	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$8.56 RON40.50	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	+503.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$371.73 RON1,758.50	$834.08 CRC380K	+124.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$281.26 RON1,330.53	$597.43 CRC272K	+112.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$107.14 RON506.84	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	-36.0%
Average			+91.1%

Romania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 70.3% more for childcare

	Romania	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$482.75 RON2,283.68	$742.27 CRC338K	+53.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$7,125.14 RON33,706.19	$13,434.66 CRC6M	+88.6%
Average			+70.3%

Romania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 36.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Romania	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.18 RON10.31	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	+33.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.45 RON11.57	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	+66.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.71 RON27.03	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	-7.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$38.73 RON183.19	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	+71.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.13 RON33.75	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	+11.0%
Average			+36.6%

Romania vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 32.4% more for clothing

	Romania	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$62.00 RON293.30	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	+8.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$35.53 RON168.09	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	+39.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.18 RON365.11	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+58.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$85.19 RON402.98	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	+27.4%
Average			+32.4%

Romania 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: Romania vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Be 14.2% more likely to be unemployed in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Romania is about 4.7 times bigger than Costa Rica.

Moving from Romania to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

118 people born in Romania live in Costa Rica.

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