Cost of living comparison

Sierra Leone

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Sierra Leone Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 31.5% more expensive than Sierra Leone overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.4 times more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 38.3% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 63.3% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 24.8% less in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 44.8% more in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 4.5 times more in Costa Rica

The cost of clothing, restaurants, transportation, entertainment and sports, and groceries in Costa Rica are more expensive than in Sierra Leone. Notably, clothing and restaurants are significantly more expensive in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. Sierra Leone Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Costa Rica instead of Sierra Leone, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.4 times more for restaurants

	Sierra Leone	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.00 SLL41,939	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	+457.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.00 SLL231K	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	-1.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.83 SLL38,444	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+32.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.85 SLL17,805	$1.79 CRC813.02	+110.4%
Average			+138.9%

Sierra Leone vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 38.3% more for groceries

	Sierra Leone	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$0.66 SLL13,755	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+322.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.54 SLL74,319	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	+36.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$9.15 SLL192K	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	-8.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.81 SLL38,023	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	+100.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.54 SLL95,116	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	-3.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.18 SLL66,581	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	-30.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.36 SLL28,535	$0.73 CRC329.98	-46.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.32 SLL6,742	$1.67 CRC758.13	+418.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.27 SLL47,558	$1.43 CRC652.25	-36.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.91 SLL19,023	$1.44 CRC655.18	+58.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SLL15,488	$1.33 CRC603.93	+79.7%
Average			+38.3%

Sierra Leone vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 63.3% more for transportation

	Sierra Leone	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.02 SLL105K	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	+15.3%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$66.80 CRC30,402.28
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$12,000.00 SLL252M	$22,830.95 CRC10M	+90.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$4.50 SLL94,363	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	+249.1%
Average			+63.3%

Sierra Leone vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 24.8% less for housing

	Sierra Leone	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$55.00 SLL1M	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	-6.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$928.33 SLL19M	$834.08 CRC380K	-10.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,261.67 SLL26M	$597.43 CRC272K	-52.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$45.88 SLL962K	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	+49.4%
Average			-24.8%

Sierra Leone vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Sierra Leone	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$742.27 CRC338K
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$13,434.66 CRC6M

Sierra Leone vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 44.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Sierra Leone	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.25 SLL47,181	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	+29.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.76 SLL57,878	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	+47.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.00 SLL62,908	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	+76.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$66.37 CRC30,203.17
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$7.92 CRC3,603.80
Average			+44.8%

Sierra Leone vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.5 times more for clothing

	Sierra Leone	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$10.00 SLL210K	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	+575.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$49.52 CRC22,538.15
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$20.00 SLL419K	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+513.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$50.00 SLL1M	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	+117.0%
Average			+347.9%

Sierra Leone 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: Sierra Leone vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 24 statistics

Make 23.6 times more money in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Sierra Leone is about 1.4 times bigger than Costa Rica.

Moving from Sierra Leone to Costa Rica · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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