Cost of living comparison

Cartagena, Colombia

compared to

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo vs. Cartagena Cost of Living Summary

Santo Domingo is 63.3% more expensive than Cartagena.

Restaurants: pay 34.5% more in Santo Domingo
Groceries: pay 25.9% more in Santo Domingo
Transportation: pay 2.0 times more in Santo Domingo
Housing: pay 10.8% more in Santo Domingo
Childcare: pay 2.9 times more in Santo Domingo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 64.0% more in Santo Domingo
Clothing: pay 14.1% more in Santo Domingo

The cost of childcare, transportation, entertainment and sports, restaurants, groceries, and clothing in Santo Domingo are more expensive than in Cartagena. Notably, childcare and transportation are significantly more expensive in Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo vs. Cartagena Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Santo Domingo instead of Cartagena, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 34.5% more for restaurants

	Cartagena	Santo Domingo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.43 COP22,156.29	$10.23 DOP606.70	+88.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.08 COP32,998.73	$6.60 DOP391.42	-18.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.73 COP2,975.19	$1.05 DOP62.27	+44.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.62 COP2,533.12	$0.77 DOP45.37	+23.4%
Average			+34.5%

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 25.9% more for groceries

	Cartagena	Santo Domingo
Bread 1 loaf	$1.46 COP5,967.70	$1.90 DOP112.84	+30.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.15 COP12,845.94	$3.22 DOP190.77	+2.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.60 COP14,692.24	$4.91 DOP291.11	+36.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.98 COP8,096.95	$2.37 DOP140.39	+19.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.39 COP9,761.27	$2.89 DOP171.26	+20.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.63 COP6,658.62	$1.37 DOP81.40	-15.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 COP2,993.60	$0.35 DOP20.99	-51.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.73 COP2,993.60	$1.35 DOP80.11	+84.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 COP2,394.88	$0.79 DOP47.02	+35.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.79 COP3,207.43	$0.98 DOP58.33	+25.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.55 COP2,245.20	$1.09 DOP64.59	+98.2%
Average			+25.9%

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.0 times more for transportation

	Cartagena	Santo Domingo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.81 COP11,456.63	$4.80 DOP284.57	+71.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$21.08 COP86,083.65	$82.54 DOP4,892.77	+291.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$17,318.49 COP70,711,569.83	$28,062.96 DOP1,663,541.67	+62.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$20.67 COP84,382.47	$18.61 DOP1,103.21	-9.9%
Average			+103.7%

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 10.8% more for housing

	Cartagena	Santo Domingo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$29.98 COP122,409.58	$42.28 DOP2,506.19	+41.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$692.74 COP2,828,462.79	$732.50 DOP43,421.69	+5.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$315.58 COP1,288,521.94	$411.15 DOP24,372.54	+30.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$99.71 COP407,096.61	$66.16 DOP3,922.11	-33.6%
Average			+10.8%

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.9 times more for childcare

	Cartagena	Santo Domingo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$124.69 COP509,123.30	$361.79 DOP21,446.64	+190.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$6,176.69 DOP366,147.29
Average			+190.1%

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 64.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Cartagena	Santo Domingo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.73 COP7,071.16	$2.48 DOP146.78	+43.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.54 COP6,285.47	$2.58 DOP152.90	+67.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.31 COP9,428.21	$4.54 DOP269.10	+96.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$29.10 COP118,795.44	$44.94 DOP2,663.84	+54.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.04 COP16,499.37	$6.40 DOP379.19	+58.3%
Average			+64.0%

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 14.1% more for clothing

	Cartagena	Santo Domingo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.11 COP237,276.60	$66.44 DOP3,938.68	+14.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$36.95 COP150,851.35	$56.74 DOP3,363.78	+53.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$119.31 COP487,124.15	$103.17 DOP6,115.96	-13.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$107.76 COP439,983.10	$109.66 DOP6,500.39	+1.8%
Average			+14.1%

Cartagena vs. Santo Domingo - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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: June 2025

More cost comparisons

Cartagena vs.

Washington

Cartagena vs.

Nairobi

Cartagena vs.

Cairo

Cartagena vs.

Dublin

Cartagena vs.

Manila

Cartagena vs.

Hong Kong

Cartagena vs.

Berlin

Cartagena vs.

Canberra

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Colombia vs. Dominican Republic. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Colombia and Dominican Republic.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Cartagena

Add prices for Santo Domingo

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Santo Domingo or Cartagena. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.