Cost of living comparison

Mexico City, Mexico

compared to

San Jose, Costa Rica

San Jose vs. Mexico City Cost of Living Summary

San Jose is 56.0% more expensive than Mexico City.

Restaurants: pay 53.4% more in San Jose
Groceries: pay 37.3% more in San Jose
Transportation: pay 2.5 times more in San Jose
Housing: pay 49.0% more in San Jose
Childcare: pay 42.1% more in San Jose
Entertainment and Sports: pay 33.1% more in San Jose
Clothing: pay 29.7% more in San Jose

The cost of transportation, restaurants, housing, childcare, groceries, and entertainment and sports in San Jose are more expensive than in Mexico City. Notably, transportation is significantly more expensive in San Jose.

San Jose vs. Mexico City Cost Breakdown

If you lived in San Jose instead of Mexico City, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 53.4% more for restaurants

	Mexico City	San Jose
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.93 MX$197.86	$10.83 CRC5,398.07	+9.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.45 MX$148.40	$9.72 CRC4,843.27	+30.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.08 MX$21.51	$1.99 CRC993.73	+84.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.77 MX$15.40	$1.46 CRC728.17	+89.1%
Average			+53.4%

Mexico City vs. San Jose - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 37.3% more for groceries

	Mexico City	San Jose
Bread 1 loaf	$2.45 MX$48.87	$2.60 CRC1,294.21	+5.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.87 MX$96.99	$4.26 CRC2,125.66	-12.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.51 MX$109.75	$7.23 CRC3,604.88	+31.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.18 MX$43.50	$3.26 CRC1,626.11	+49.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.57 MX$71.16	$4.41 CRC2,196.38	+23.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.22 MX$24.35	$1.95 CRC972.22	+59.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.67 MX$13.34	$0.63 CRC314.13	-5.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.80 MX$15.92	$1.59 CRC793.01	+99.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.83 MX$16.49	$1.35 CRC671.92	+62.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 MX$16.96	$1.30 CRC647.70	+52.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.83 MX$16.49	$1.19 CRC593.61	+43.9%
Average			+37.3%

Mexico City vs. San Jose - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.5 times more for transportation

	Mexico City	San Jose
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.64 MX$92.41	$5.49 CRC2,735.27	+18.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$17.87 MX$356.15	$38.02 CRC18,951.93	+112.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$18,615.02 MX$370,988.00	$36,925.49 CRC18,404,426.11	+98.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$3.47 MX$69.25	$15.94 CRC7,945.38	+358.8%
Average			+147.1%

Mexico City vs. San Jose - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 49.0% more for housing

	Mexico City	San Jose
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$24.38 MX$485.87	$53.59 CRC26,712.67	+119.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$893.52 MX$17,807.42	$742.08 CRC369,867.65	-16.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$544.24 MX$10,846.34	$463.60 CRC231,068.47	-14.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$30.31 MX$604.09	$63.06 CRC31,428.22	+108.0%
Average			+49.0%

Mexico City vs. San Jose - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 42.1% more for childcare

	Mexico City	San Jose
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$381.33 MX$7,599.63	$521.49 CRC259,922.16	+36.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,426.99 MX$167,945.68	$12,425.72 CRC6,193,233.90	+47.5%
Average			+42.1%

Mexico City vs. San Jose - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 33.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Mexico City	San Jose
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.73 MX$54.41	$2.92 CRC1,452.98	+6.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.01 MX$59.91	$3.69 CRC1,839.82	+22.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.92 MX$78.15	$5.05 CRC2,518.50	+28.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.69 MX$1,069.96	$59.70 CRC29,756.25	+11.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.96 MX$98.93	$9.72 CRC4,843.27	+95.8%
Average			+33.1%

Mexico City vs. San Jose - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 29.7% more for clothing

	Mexico City	San Jose
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$56.36 MX$1,123.13	$73.59 CRC36,676.87	+30.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.06 MX$818.29	$50.81 CRC25,325.94	+23.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.99 MX$1,833.37	$125.98 CRC62,792.81	+36.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.93 MX$1,832.11	$117.31 CRC58,471.58	+27.6%
Average			+29.7%

Mexico City vs. San Jose - 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: March 2025

More cost comparisons

Mexico City vs.

Ankara

Mexico City vs.

Reykjavik

Mexico City vs.

Dodoma

Mexico City vs.

Moscow

Mexico City vs.

Vienna

Mexico City vs.

Prague

Mexico City vs.

Delhi

Mexico City vs.

Paris

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Mexico vs. Costa Rica. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Mexico and Costa Rica.

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 Mexico City

Add prices for San Jose

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

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