Cost of living comparison

South Korea

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. South Korea Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 11.7% more expensive than South Korea overall.

Restaurants: pay 68.2% more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 23.0% less in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 14.8% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 28.1% more in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 4.9% less in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 1.1% less in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 11.3% more in Costa Rica

The cost of restaurants, housing, transportation, and clothing in Costa Rica are more expensive than in South Korea. Expenses including groceries, childcare, and entertainment and sports are lower in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. South Korea Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Costa Rica instead of South Korea, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 68.2% more for restaurants

	South Korea	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.06 ₩9,413	$11.15 CRC5,063.11	+57.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.17 ₩8,222	$10.85 CRC4,926.96	+75.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.53 ₩2,037	$2.43 CRC1,104.15	+59.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.88 ₩1,180	$1.79 CRC811.36	+101.9%
Average			+68.2%

South Korea vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 23.0% less for groceries

	South Korea	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$3.04 ₩4,051	$2.77 CRC1,259.30	-8.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.12 ₩8,166	$4.82 CRC2,188.51	-21.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.23 ₩10,971	$8.37 CRC3,801.08	+1.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.94 ₩3,919	$3.63 CRC1,650.45	+23.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.11 ₩5,479	$4.40 CRC1,998.69	+7.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$4.00 ₩5,336	$2.20 CRC1,000.99	-44.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.55 ₩2,067	$0.73 CRC329.31	-53.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$3.00 ₩3,996	$1.67 CRC756.58	-44.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.63 ₩3,510	$1.43 CRC650.92	-45.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$2.03 ₩2,713	$1.44 CRC653.84	-29.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.26 ₩1,683	$1.33 CRC602.69	+5.1%
Average			-23.0%

South Korea vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 14.8% more for transportation

	South Korea	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 ₩6,678	$5.78 CRC2,626.17	+15.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$46.10 ₩61,477	$66.80 CRC30,340.09	+44.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$28,394.53 ₩38M	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-19.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$8.59 ₩11,459	$15.71 CRC7,134.70	+82.8%
Average			+14.8%

South Korea vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 28.1% more for housing

	South Korea	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$24.34 ₩32,458	$51.66 CRC23,462.03	+112.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$561.73 ₩749K	$834.08 CRC379K	+48.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$387.83 ₩517K	$597.43 CRC271K	+54.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$153.72 ₩205K	$68.56 CRC31,138.15	-55.4%
Average			+28.1%

South Korea vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 4.9% less for childcare

	South Korea	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$545.93 ₩728K	$742.27 CRC337K	+36.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$20,214.53 ₩27M	$13,434.66 CRC6M	-33.5%
Average			-4.9%

South Korea vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 1.1% less for entertainment and sports

	South Korea	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.30 ₩4,398	$2.91 CRC1,320.39	-11.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.66 ₩4,884	$4.06 CRC1,843.59	+10.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.35 ₩4,463	$5.29 CRC2,404.55	+58.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$57.32 ₩76,432	$66.37 CRC30,141.38	+15.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.28 ₩15,047	$7.92 CRC3,596.43	-29.8%
Average			-1.1%

South Korea vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 11.3% more for clothing

	South Korea	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$67.53 ₩90,049	$67.50 CRC30,654.25	-0.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$53.43 ₩71,245	$49.52 CRC22,492.04	-7.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$78.10 ₩104K	$122.64 CRC55,697.30	+57.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$102.84 ₩137K	$108.52 CRC49,287.99	+5.5%
Average			+11.3%

South Korea 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: South Korea vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Be 2.6 times more likely to be unemployed in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

South Korea is about 1.9 times bigger than Costa Rica.

Moving from South Korea to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

302 people born in South Korea live in Costa Rica.

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