Cost of living comparison

Costa Rica

compared to

Mexico City vs. Costa Rica Cost of Living Summary

Mexico City is 24.3% cheaper than Costa Rica overall.

Restaurants: pay 27.6% less in Mexico City
Groceries: pay 15.9% less in Mexico City
Transportation: pay 51.5% less in Mexico City
Housing: pay 22.8% less in Mexico City
Childcare: pay 24.9% less in Mexico City
Entertainment and Sports: pay 16.8% less in Mexico City
Clothing: pay 10.9% less in Mexico City

Expenses including transportation, restaurants, childcare, housing, entertainment and sports, and groceries are lower in Mexico City.

Mexico City vs. Costa Rica Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Mexico City instead of Costa Rica, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 27.6% less for restaurants

	Costa Rica	Mexico City
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.75 CRC4,933.63	$9.93 MX$193.63	+1.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.08 CRC4,596.56	$7.45 MX$145.23	-18.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.01 CRC1,017.66	$1.08 MX$21.05	-46.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.49 CRC754.94	$0.77 MX$15.07	-48.2%
Average			-27.6%

Costa Rica vs. Mexico City - Cost of restaurants

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pay 15.9% less for groceries

	Costa Rica	Mexico City
Bread 1 loaf	$2.53 CRC1,281.66	$2.45 MX$47.82	-3.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.76 CRC1,904.50	$4.87 MX$94.91	+29.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.98 CRC3,530.84	$5.51 MX$107.41	-21.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.21 CRC1,625.85	$2.18 MX$42.57	-32.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.97 CRC2,009.86	$3.57 MX$69.64	-10.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.79 CRC905.69	$1.22 MX$23.83	-31.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.62 CRC312.24	$0.67 MX$13.05	+8.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.22 CRC615.68	$0.80 MX$15.58	-34.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.22 CRC618.33	$0.83 MX$16.14	-32.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.09 CRC553.88	$0.85 MX$16.60	-22.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.11 CRC563.71	$0.83 MX$16.14	-25.7%
Average			-15.9%

Costa Rica vs. Mexico City - Cost of groceries

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pay 51.5% less for transportation

	Costa Rica	Mexico City
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.63 CRC2,848.11	$4.64 MX$90.44	-17.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$49.00 CRC24,800.73	$17.87 MX$348.54	-63.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,063.37 CRC17,747,263.85	$18,615.02 MX$363,063.59	-46.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$15.62 CRC7,907.16	$3.47 MX$67.77	-77.8%
Average			-51.5%

Costa Rica vs. Mexico City - Cost of transportation

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pay 22.8% less for housing

	Costa Rica	Mexico City
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$48.50 CRC24,548.41	$24.38 MX$475.49	-49.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$778.04 CRC393,802.40	$893.52 MX$17,427.05	+14.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$547.50 CRC277,117.83	$544.24 MX$10,614.66	-0.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.26 CRC34,548.52	$30.31 MX$591.18	-55.6%
Average			-22.8%

Costa Rica vs. Mexico City - Cost of housing

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pay 24.9% less for childcare

	Costa Rica	Mexico City
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$519.07 CRC262,725.14	$381.33 MX$7,437.30	-26.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,987.74 CRC5,561,426.86	$8,426.99 MX$164,358.31	-23.3%
Average			-24.9%

Costa Rica vs. Mexico City - Cost of childcare

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pay 16.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Costa Rica	Mexico City
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.73 CRC1,380.35	$2.73 MX$53.25	+0.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.65 CRC1,849.59	$3.01 MX$58.63	-17.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.58 CRC2,319.33	$3.92 MX$76.49	-14.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$59.46 CRC30,095.87	$53.69 MX$1,047.11	-9.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.63 CRC4,365.99	$4.96 MX$96.82	-42.5%
Average			-16.8%

Costa Rica vs. Mexico City - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 10.9% less for clothing

	Costa Rica	Mexico City
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$65.32 CRC33,063.45	$56.36 MX$1,099.14	-13.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$44.54 CRC22,544.02	$41.06 MX$800.81	-7.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$110.39 CRC55,871.44	$91.99 MX$1,794.21	-16.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$97.22 CRC49,206.14	$91.93 MX$1,792.97	-5.4%
Average			-10.9%

Costa Rica vs. Mexico City - 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: April 2025

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