Cost of living comparison

Zimbabwe

compared to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica vs. Zimbabwe Cost of Living Summary

Costa Rica is 87.4% more expensive than Zimbabwe overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.0 times more in Costa Rica
Groceries: pay 73.9% more in Costa Rica
Transportation: pay 2.4% more in Costa Rica
Housing: pay 2.3 times more in Costa Rica
Childcare: pay 2.2 times more in Costa Rica
Entertainment and Sports: pay 52.7% more in Costa Rica
Clothing: pay 2.8 times more in Costa Rica

The cost of clothing, housing, childcare, restaurants, groceries, and entertainment and sports in Costa Rica are more expensive than in Zimbabwe. Notably, clothing, housing, and childcare are significantly more expensive in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica vs. Zimbabwe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.0 times more for restaurants

	Zimbabwe	Costa Rica
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.25 ZWL2,334.50	$11.15 CRC5,073.49	+53.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.38 ZWL1,730.75	$10.85 CRC4,937.06	+101.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.73 ZWL234.79	$2.43 CRC1,106.42	+233.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.42 ZWL135.90	$1.79 CRC813.02	+323.3%
Average			+102.2%

Zimbabwe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of restaurants

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pay 73.9% more for groceries

	Zimbabwe	Costa Rica
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 ZWL322.00	$2.77 CRC1,261.89	+177.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.28 ZWL1,701.44	$4.82 CRC2,192.99	-8.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.96 ZWL1,919.26	$8.37 CRC3,808.87	+40.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.90 ZWL611.53	$3.63 CRC1,653.83	+91.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.12 ZWL682.33	$4.40 CRC2,002.78	+107.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.10 ZWL353.72	$2.20 CRC1,003.04	+100.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 ZWL236.30	$0.73 CRC329.98	-1.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 ZWL328.63	$1.67 CRC758.13	+63.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 ZWL188.63	$1.43 CRC652.25	+144.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.67 ZWL217.09	$1.44 CRC655.18	+113.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.72 ZWL231.09	$1.33 CRC603.93	+84.9%
Average			+73.9%

Zimbabwe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.4% more for transportation

	Zimbabwe	Costa Rica
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.57 ZWL2,116.06	$5.78 CRC2,631.55	-12.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$45.00 ZWL14,490.00	$66.80 CRC30,402.28	+48.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,500.00 ZWL8M	$22,830.95 CRC10M	-2.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$19.50 ZWL6,279.00	$15.71 CRC7,149.33	-19.4%
Average			+2.4%

Zimbabwe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.3 times more for housing

	Zimbabwe	Costa Rica
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$88.24 ZWL28,414.33	$51.66 CRC23,510.13	-41.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$282.50 ZWL90,965.00	$834.08 CRC380K	+195.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$212.05 ZWL68,280.10	$597.43 CRC272K	+181.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$55.83 ZWL17,977.33	$68.56 CRC31,201.98	+22.8%
Average			+134.3%

Zimbabwe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of housing

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pay 2.2 times more for childcare

	Zimbabwe	Costa Rica
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$331.89 ZWL107K	$742.27 CRC338K	+123.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,027.78 ZWL2M	$13,434.66 CRC6M	+122.9%
Average			+123.3%

Zimbabwe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of childcare

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pay 52.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Zimbabwe	Costa Rica
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.38 ZWL442.75	$2.91 CRC1,323.10	+111.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.56 ZWL825.12	$4.06 CRC1,847.37	+58.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.75 ZWL563.50	$5.29 CRC2,409.48	+202.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$39.58 ZWL12,745.83	$66.37 CRC30,203.17	+67.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.00 ZWL3,220.00	$7.92 CRC3,603.80	-20.8%
Average			+52.7%

Zimbabwe vs. Costa Rica - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.8 times more for clothing

	Zimbabwe	Costa Rica
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$22.24 ZWL7,160.03	$67.50 CRC30,717.09	+203.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.41 ZWL5,282.85	$49.52 CRC22,538.15	+201.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$42.46 ZWL13,673.21	$122.64 CRC55,811.48	+188.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$49.35 ZWL15,890.90	$108.52 CRC49,389.03	+119.9%
Average			+176.2%

Zimbabwe 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: Zimbabwe vs. Costa Rica

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Costa Rica?

Quality of Life Comparison · 24 statistics

Make 6.6 times more money in Costa Rica

Size Comparison · See true size

Zimbabwe is about 8 times bigger than Costa Rica.

Moving from Zimbabwe to Costa Rica · UN DESA 2020

1 people born in Zimbabwe live in Costa Rica.

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