Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 49.9% more expensive than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 31.5% more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 0.7% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 12.1% less in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 2.1 times more in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 4.5 times more in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 27.6% more in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 97.5% more in Costa Rica

The cost of childcare, housing, clothing, restaurants, entertainment and sports, and groceries in Costa Rica are more expensive than in Sao Tome and Principe. Notably, childcare, housing, and clothing are significantly more expensive in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Costa Rica instead of Sao Tome and Principe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 31.5% more for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	+24.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	+37.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+32.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$1.79 CRC813.02	+43.3%
Average			+31.5%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 0.7% more for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+178.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	-50.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	+42.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	-25.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	-50.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	+29.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$0.73 CRC329.98	-8.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$1.67 CRC758.13	+1.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$1.43 CRC652.25	-8.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$1.44 CRC655.18	+9.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$1.33 CRC603.93	+23.3%
Average			+0.7%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.1% less for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	-10.4%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$66.80 CRC30,402.28
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-7.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	-30.0%
Average			-12.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.1 times more for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	-22.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$834.08 CRC380K	+192.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$597.43 CRC272K	+206.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	-60.8%
Average			+106.3%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 4.5 times more for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$228.62 STD5M	$742.27 CRC338K	+224.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,194.77 STD49M	$13,434.66 CRC6M	+512.1%
Average			+345.8%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 27.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	+71.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	+79.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	+134.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	+95.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	-60.7%
Average			+27.6%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 97.5% more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$67.50 CRC30,717.09
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	-34.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$122.64 CRC55,811.48
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	+491.0%
Average			+97.5%

Sao Tome and Principe 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: Sao Tome and Principe vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Make 4.9 times more money in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Sao Tome and Principe is about 53 times smaller than Costa Rica.

Moving from Sao Tome and Principe to Costa Rica · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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