Country size comparison
compared to
Costa Rica is about 8 times smaller than California.
California is approximately 403,882 sq km, while Costa Rica is approximately 51,100 sq km, making Costa Rica 12.65% the size of California. Meanwhile, the population of California is ~37.3 million people (32.0 million fewer people live in Costa Rica).
Tip:
This to-scale comparison of
California
vs.
Costa Rica
uses the Mercator projection, which distorts the size of regions near the poles.
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Compare further: Costa Rica vs. California
Flip Comparison · See true size
See Costa Rica on top of California
→
Quality of Life Comparison · 4 statistics
Make 3.3 times more money in California
→
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
California is 82.3% more expensive than Costa Rica overall
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Moving from Costa Rica to California · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
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