Cost of living comparison

Singapore

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Singapore Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 44.6% cheaper than Singapore overall.

Restaurants: pay 13.5% more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 8.8% less in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 54.7% less in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 66.2% less in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 51.1% less in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 44.0% less in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 6.3% less in Costa Rica

Expenses including housing, transportation, childcare, entertainment and sports, groceries, and clothing are lower in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. Singapore Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 13.5% more for restaurants

	Singapore	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.72 SGD15.02	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	-4.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.59 SGD11.01	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	+26.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.81 SGD2.32	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+34.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.22 SGD1.56	$1.79 CRC813.02	+46.8%
Average			+13.5%

Singapore vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 8.8% less for groceries

	Singapore	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$2.52 SGD3.23	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+10.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$10.61 SGD13.60	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	-54.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$11.31 SGD14.49	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	-26.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.63 SGD4.66	$3.63 CRC1,653.83
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.43 SGD5.67	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	-0.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.04 SGD2.62	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	+7.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.39 SGD1.78	$0.73 CRC329.98	-47.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.11 SGD2.70	$1.67 CRC758.13	-20.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.00 SGD1.29	$1.43 CRC652.25	+42.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.15 SGD1.48	$1.44 CRC655.18	+25.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.07 SGD1.37	$1.33 CRC603.93	+23.7%
Average			-8.8%

Singapore vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 54.7% less for transportation

	Singapore	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$9.42 SGD12.07	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	-38.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$95.32 SGD122.14	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	-29.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$158K SGD202K	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-85.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.84 SGD12.61	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	+59.6%
Average			-54.7%

Singapore vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 66.2% less for housing

	Singapore	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$26.68 SGD34.19	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	+93.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$2,972.36 SGD3,808.76	$834.08 CRC380K	-71.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$2,133.71 SGD2,734.12	$597.43 CRC272K	-72.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$133.12 SGD170.58	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	-48.5%
Average			-66.2%

Singapore vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 51.1% less for childcare

	Singapore	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,466.84 SGD1,879.60	$742.27 CRC338K	-49.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$28,413.66 SGD36,409.09	$13,434.66 CRC6M	-52.7%
Average			-51.1%

Singapore vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 44.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Singapore	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$8.20 SGD10.51	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	-64.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.19 SGD6.65	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	-21.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$14.06 SGD18.02	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	-62.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$110.24 SGD141.26	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	-39.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.72 SGD15.02	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	-32.4%
Average			-44.0%

Singapore vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 6.3% less for clothing

	Singapore	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$80.66 SGD103.36	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	-16.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$50.96 SGD65.30	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	-2.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$110.36 SGD141.41	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+11.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$127.45 SGD163.31	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	-14.9%
Average			-6.3%

Singapore 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: Singapore vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 18 statistics

Be 2.4 times more likely to be unemployed in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Singapore is about 71 times smaller than Costa Rica.

Moving from Singapore to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

9 people born in Singapore live in Costa Rica.

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