Cost of living comparison

Bangkok, Thailand

compared to

San Jose, Costa Rica

San Jose vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

San Jose is 62.2% more expensive than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 3.4 times more in San Jose
Groceries: pay 54.4% more in San Jose
Transportation: pay 10.1% more in San Jose
Housing: pay 81.5% more in San Jose
Childcare: pay 11.7% less in San Jose
Entertainment and Sports: pay 26.2% more in San Jose
Clothing: pay 34.0% more in San Jose

The cost of restaurants, housing, groceries, clothing, entertainment and sports, and transportation in San Jose are more expensive than in Bangkok. Notably, restaurants and housing are significantly more expensive in San Jose.

San Jose vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

If you lived in San Jose instead of Bangkok, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 3.4 times more for restaurants

	Bangkok	San Jose
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.91 THB98.33	$10.83 CRC5,411.93	+271.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.83 THB196.66	$9.72 CRC4,855.71	+66.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.62 THB20.79	$1.99 CRC996.28	+223.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.29 THB9.85	$1.46 CRC730.05	+400.8%
Average			+240.8%

Bangkok vs. San Jose - Cost of restaurants

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pay 54.4% more for groceries

	Bangkok	San Jose
Bread 1 loaf	$1.52 THB51.38	$2.60 CRC1,297.53	+70.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$11.74 THB396.28	$4.26 CRC2,131.12	-63.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.32 THB247.04	$7.23 CRC3,614.14	-1.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.27 THB76.70	$3.26 CRC1,630.29	+43.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.31 THB44.38	$4.41 CRC2,202.02	+235.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.47 THB49.67	$1.95 CRC974.72	+32.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 THB24.52	$0.63 CRC314.94	-13.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.04 THB34.94	$1.59 CRC795.04	+53.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.80 THB27.16	$1.35 CRC673.65	+67.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 THB24.05	$1.30 CRC649.37	+82.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.62 THB21.01	$1.19 CRC595.13	+91.4%
Average			+54.4%

Bangkok vs. San Jose - Cost of groceries

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pay 10.1% more for transportation

	Bangkok	San Jose
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.47 THB150.73	$5.49 CRC2,742.30	+22.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$39.32 THB1,327.43	$38.02 CRC19,000.61	-3.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$55,345.18 THB1,868,239.73	$36,925.49 CRC18,451,701.73	-33.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.34 THB349.07	$15.94 CRC7,965.79	+54.2%
Average			+10.1%

Bangkok vs. San Jose - Cost of transportation

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pay 81.5% more for housing

	Bangkok	San Jose
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$15.36 THB518.50	$53.59 CRC26,781.29	+248.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$571.31 THB19,285.06	$742.08 CRC370,817.73	+29.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$301.88 THB10,190.40	$463.60 CRC231,662.02	+53.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$67.33 THB2,272.83	$63.06 CRC31,508.95	-6.3%
Average			+81.5%

Bangkok vs. San Jose - Cost of housing

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pay 11.7% less for childcare

	Bangkok	San Jose
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$632.63 THB21,355.26	$521.49 CRC260,589.82	-17.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,191.37 THB445,289.64	$12,425.72 CRC6,209,142.52	-5.8%
Average			-11.7%

Bangkok vs. San Jose - Cost of childcare

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pay 26.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	San Jose
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.33 THB78.66	$2.92 CRC1,456.71	+25.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.58 THB87.21	$3.69 CRC1,844.55	+42.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.20 THB141.84	$5.05 CRC2,524.97	+20.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.58 THB1,842.35	$59.70 CRC29,832.68	+9.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.28 THB245.82	$9.72 CRC4,855.71	+33.4%
Average			+26.2%

Bangkok vs. San Jose - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 34.0% more for clothing

	Bangkok	San Jose
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$55.27 THB1,865.64	$73.59 CRC36,771.08	+33.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.84 THB1,176.03	$50.81 CRC25,391.00	+45.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$97.10 THB3,277.58	$125.98 CRC62,954.11	+29.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$92.12 THB3,109.64	$117.31 CRC58,621.78	+27.3%
Average			+34.0%

Bangkok vs. San Jose - 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: March 2025

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