Cost of living comparison

West Virginia, USA

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. West Virginia Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 6.2% cheaper than West Virginia.

Restaurants: pay 19.1% less in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 7.0% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 20.2% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 34.6% less in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 25.7% less in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.5% less in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 18.4% more in Costa Rica

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

Costa Rica vs. West Virginia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Costa Rica instead of West Virginia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 19.1% less for restaurants

	West Virginia	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$15.56	$9.77 CRC4,536.38	-37.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.18	$9.53 CRC4,426.35	-6.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.40	$2.00 CRC929.44	-16.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.87	$1.57 CRC729.77	-16.1%
Average			-19.1%

West Virginia vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 7.0% more for groceries

	West Virginia	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$2.54	$2.54 CRC1,179.33	-0.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.57	$4.50 CRC2,090.04	-1.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.06	$7.52 CRC3,493.16	+145.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.10	$2.80 CRC1,297.90	-9.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.29	$3.83 CRC1,777.02	-10.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.89	$1.78 CRC828.21	-5.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.61	$0.62 CRC285.53	+0.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.64	$1.65 CRC764.88	+0.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.70	$1.24 CRC576.65	-26.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.23	$1.28 CRC593.26	+3.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.34	$1.10 CRC510.96	-18.1%
Average			+7.0%

West Virginia vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 20.2% more for transportation

	West Virginia	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.15	$5.47 CRC2,539.53	+73.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$62.00	$54.59 CRC25,344.39	-12.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,636.47	$36,444.91 CRC17M	+15.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$15.12	$15.68 CRC7,279.37	+3.7%
Average			+20.2%

West Virginia vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 34.6% less for housing

	West Virginia	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$62.38	$49.17 CRC22,830.55	-21.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$985.60	$805.28 CRC374K	-18.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$808.85	$555.89 CRC258K	-31.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$195.99	$63.57 CRC29,514.19	-67.6%
Average			-34.6%

West Virginia vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 25.7% less for childcare

	West Virginia	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$895.95	$517.09 CRC240K	-42.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,512.00	$9,552.94 CRC4M	-9.1%
Average			-25.7%

West Virginia vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 9.5% less for entertainment and sports

	West Virginia	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.44	$2.59 CRC1,200.84	-41.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.52	$3.84 CRC1,782.26	-15.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$8.29	$4.70 CRC2,181.86	-43.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.14	$58.68 CRC27,243.74	+77.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$12.09	$9.11 CRC4,228.17	-24.7%
Average			-9.5%

West Virginia vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 18.4% more for clothing

	West Virginia	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$45.93	$58.22 CRC27,028.62	+26.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.06	$44.70 CRC20,754.37	+14.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$83.25	$112.79 CRC52,366.71	+35.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$96.41	$93.41 CRC43,366.94	-3.1%
Average			+18.4%

West Virginia 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: April 2026

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West Virginia is about 1.2 times bigger than Costa Rica.

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