Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Costa Rica

San Jose vs. Sao Tome Cost of Living Summary

San Jose is 67.7% more expensive than Sao Tome.

Restaurants: pay 42.4% more in San Jose
Groceries: pay 12.6% more in San Jose
Transportation: pay 13.8% less in San Jose
Housing: pay 2.4 times more in San Jose
Childcare: pay 5.8 times more in San Jose
Entertainment and Sports: pay 36.7% more in San Jose
Clothing: pay 2.3 times more in San Jose

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

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San Jose vs. Sao Tome Cost Breakdown

If you lived in San Jose instead of Sao Tome, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 42.4% more for restaurants

	Sao Tome	San Jose
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$12.18 CRC5,543.94	+36.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$11.62 CRC5,289.15	+47.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$2.69 CRC1,222.04	+45.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$1.89 CRC858.35	+51.3%
Average			+42.4%

Sao Tome vs. San Jose - Cost of restaurants

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pay 12.6% more for groceries

	Sao Tome	San Jose
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$3.09 CRC1,407.40	+210.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$5.33 CRC2,425.82	-45.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$8.95 CRC4,075.15	+52.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$3.49 CRC1,590.09	-28.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$4.71 CRC2,145.07	-47.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$2.32 CRC1,054.99	+36.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$0.73 CRC330.88	-8.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$2.15 CRC979.64	+31.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$1.76 CRC799.36	+12.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$1.73 CRC787.71	+31.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$1.66 CRC755.96	+54.3%
Average			+12.6%

Sao Tome vs. San Jose - Cost of groceries

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pay 13.8% less for transportation

	Sao Tome	San Jose
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$5.80 CRC2,637.53	-10.2%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$65.71 CRC29,903.89
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$21,990.00 CRC10M	-10.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$15.13 CRC6,887.86	-32.5%
Average			-13.8%

Sao Tome vs. San Jose - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.4 times more for housing

	Sao Tome	San Jose
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$59.17 CRC26,929.00	-11.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$942.15 CRC429K	+230.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$758.77 CRC345K	+289.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$72.33 CRC32,916.13	-58.6%
Average			+141.9%

Sao Tome vs. San Jose - Cost of housing

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pay 5.8 times more for childcare

	Sao Tome	San Jose
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$228.62 STD5M	$980.95 CRC446K	+329.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,194.77 STD49M	$17,102.76 CRC8M	+679.2%
Average			+478.2%

Sao Tome vs. San Jose - Cost of childcare

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pay 36.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome	San Jose
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$3.29 CRC1,495.19	+93.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$4.44 CRC2,020.72	+96.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$5.91 CRC2,691.35	+161.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$72.94 CRC33,194.61	+115.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$7.67 CRC3,488.79	-62.0%
Average			+36.7%

Sao Tome vs. San Jose - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.3 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome	San Jose
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$71.32 CRC32,458.76
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$55.79 CRC25,389.75	-25.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$128.46 CRC58,460.15
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$131.42 CRC59,807.77	+615.6%
Average			+130.7%

Sao Tome 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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