Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo Cost of Living Summary

Cartagena is 47.7% more expensive than Santo Domingo.

Restaurants
pay 8.8% more in Cartagena
Groceries
pay 96.4% more in Cartagena
Transportation
pay 35.5% more in Cartagena
Housing
pay 38.9% more in Cartagena
Childcare
pay 37.5% more in Cartagena
Entertainment and Sports
pay 71.2% more in Cartagena

The cost of groceries, entertainment and sports, housing, childcare, transportation, and restaurants in Cartagena are more expensive than in Santo Domingo. Notably, groceries is significantly more expensive in Cartagena.

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Cartagena instead of Santo Domingo, you would:

pay 8.8% more for restaurants

 
Santo Domingo
Cartagena
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $9.95
DOP605.71
$5.71
COP18,489.52
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$7.54
DOP459.33
$10.21
COP33,031.91
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $1.04
DOP63.37
$2.51
COP8,138.85

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pay 96.4% more for groceries

 
Santo Domingo
Cartagena
Bread
1 loaf
$1.51
DOP92.20
$2.78
COP8,994.90
Local cheese (8 oz) $3.62
DOP220.51
$6.61
COP21,387.88
Milk (1 gallon) $5.19
DOP315.74
$7.05
COP22,811.88

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pay 35.5% more for transportation

 
Santo Domingo
Cartagena
Gasoline (1 gallon) $5.38
DOP327.36
$4.91
COP15,878.35
Monthly public transit pass $18.24
DOP1,110.46
$57.81
COP187K
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $23,212.79
DOP1M
$23,157.99
COP75M

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pay 38.9% more for housing

 
Santo Domingo
Cartagena
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$36.30
DOP2,210.15
??
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $721.96
DOP43,956.75
$1,028.35
COP3M
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $350.20
DOP21,321.94
$574.35
COP2M

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pay 37.5% more for childcare

 
Santo Domingo
Cartagena
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $252.26
DOP15,358.98
$617.63
COP2M
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $7,399.96
DOP451K
$5,713.07
COP18M

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pay 71.2% more for entertainment and sports

 
Santo Domingo
Cartagena
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $2.49
DOP151.43
$3.21
COP10,394.11
Cappuccino in mid-range area $2.27
DOP138.39
$4.32
COP13,992.07
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$5.32
DOP324.05
??

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

 
Santo Domingo
Cartagena
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$45.80
DOP2,788.81
??
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$46.66
DOP2,841.05
??
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$87.04
DOP5,299.30
??

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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 November 2026). How we calculate this

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