Cost of living comparison

compared to

Costa Rica vs. Wellington Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 15.9% cheaper than Wellington.

Restaurants: pay 17.0% less in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 4.2% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 9.1% less in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 31.4% less in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 27.2% less in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 16.7% less in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 14.2% less in Costa Rica

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

Costa Rica vs. Wellington Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 17.0% less for restaurants

	Wellington	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.42 NZ$24.97	$9.77 CRC4,772.77	-32.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.23 NZ$15.98	$9.53 CRC4,657.00	+3.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.46 NZ$4.26	$2.00 CRC977.87	-18.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.98 NZ$3.42	$1.57 CRC767.80	-20.5%
Average			-17.0%

Wellington vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 4.2% more for groceries

	Wellington	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$1.98 NZ$3.42	$2.54 CRC1,240.79	+28.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.02 NZ$6.96	$4.50 CRC2,198.95	+11.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.79 NZ$11.75	$7.52 CRC3,675.18	+10.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.77 NZ$11.73	$2.80 CRC1,365.53	-58.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.77 NZ$8.26	$3.83 CRC1,869.62	-19.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 NZ$2.36	$1.78 CRC871.36	+31.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.01 NZ$1.75	$0.62 CRC300.41	-39.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.33 NZ$2.30	$1.65 CRC804.74	+23.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.32 NZ$4.01	$1.24 CRC606.70	-46.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.90 NZ$1.55	$1.28 CRC624.18	+42.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.68 NZ$1.17	$1.10 CRC537.59	+62.3%
Average			+4.2%

Wellington vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 9.1% less for transportation

	Wellington	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.14 NZ$10.63	$5.47 CRC2,671.86	-10.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$109.62 NZ$189.75	$54.59 CRC26,665.03	-50.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,154.21 NZ$53,928.03	$36,444.91 CRC17,802,336.11	+17.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.55 NZ$25.19	$15.68 CRC7,658.69	+7.7%
Average			-9.1%

Wellington vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 31.4% less for housing

	Wellington	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$48.75 NZ$84.39	$49.17 CRC24,020.20	+0.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,240.57 NZ$2,147.43	$805.28 CRC393,355.72	-35.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,099.37 NZ$1,903.02	$555.89 CRC271,535.63	-49.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$109.37 NZ$189.31	$63.57 CRC31,052.11	-41.9%
Average			-31.4%

Wellington vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 27.2% less for childcare

	Wellington	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$768.47 NZ$1,330.22	$517.09 CRC252,582.05	-32.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,211.68 NZ$21,138.46	$9,552.94 CRC4,666,349.20	-21.8%
Average			-27.2%

Wellington vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 16.7% less for entertainment and sports

	Wellington	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.63 NZ$11.48	$2.59 CRC1,263.41	-61.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.54 NZ$6.13	$3.84 CRC1,875.13	+8.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$25.67 NZ$44.44	$4.70 CRC2,295.55	-81.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$34.12 NZ$59.06	$58.68 CRC28,663.36	+72.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.54 NZ$19.97	$9.11 CRC4,448.49	-21.1%
Average			-16.7%

Wellington vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 14.2% less for clothing

	Wellington	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$69.31 NZ$119.97	$58.22 CRC28,437.03	-16.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$46.64 NZ$80.73	$44.70 CRC21,835.84	-4.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$113.30 NZ$196.13	$112.79 CRC55,095.43	-0.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$146.23 NZ$253.12	$93.41 CRC45,626.70	-36.1%
Average			-14.2%

Wellington vs. Costa Rica - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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