Purchasing Power Parity · Costa Rica
Cost of living in 🇨🇷 Costa Rica vs the United States
Costa Rica has a US-relative price level of 0.601 (US = 1.0) — about 40% cheaper than the United States. Reference year 2025.
What US salaries are worth in Costa Rica
| US income | Feels like (US-equivalent) | Cost of a US lifestyle |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $83,195 | $30,050 |
| $80,000 | $133,111 | $48,080 |
| $120,000 | $199,667 | $72,120 |
| $180,000 | $299,501 | $108,180 |
| $250,000 | $415,973 | $150,250 |
“Feels like” = income ÷ price level; “cost of a US lifestyle” = income × price level. Try your own number in the interactive calculator.
How the sources compare
Each provider measures Costa Rica's price level slightly differently; a tight spread means high confidence.
Consensus (median) 0.601 2025
World Bank — GDP 0.591 2025
IMF (WEO) 0.593 2025
Penn World Table 0.610 2023
World Bank — Consumption 0.625 2025
CIA Factbook (coverage) 0.606 2024
Cost of living around the world
Every country shaded by its price level relative to the US (darker = more expensive). Costa Rica is outlined.
Cheaper → pricier · click a country to open its page
Countries with a similar cost of living
- 🇬🇷 Greece — price level 0.598
- 🇸🇬 Singapore — price level 0.605
- 🇨🇿 Czechia — price level 0.593
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates — price level 0.593
- 🇸🇨 Seychelles — price level 0.612
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Frequently asked questions
- How expensive is Costa Rica compared to the United States?
- Costa Rica has a price level of 0.601 relative to the US baseline of 1.0 (about 40% cheaper than the United States), based on the median of independent votes from the World Bank/IMF (one vote — both use the official exchange rate), the Eurostat-OECD PPP programme and the Penn World Table, reference year 2025.
- What is a $100,000 salary worth in Costa Rica?
- In purchasing-power terms, $100,000 stretches to about $166,389 of US-equivalent lifestyle in Costa Rica; conversely, sustaining a $100,000 US lifestyle there costs about $60,100.
- Where does the Costa Rica cost-of-living data come from?
- Real price-level figures from the World Bank, IMF World Economic Outlook, OECD, Eurostat and Penn World Table, blended as a per-country median of independent votes and refreshed at build time.