Cost of living comparison

San Jose, Costa Rica

compared to

Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington vs. San Jose Cost of Living Summary

Wellington is 50.0% more expensive than San Jose.

Restaurants: pay 26.7% more in Wellington
Groceries: pay 15.8% more in Wellington
Transportation: pay 65.0% more in Wellington
Housing: pay 2.0 times more in Wellington
Childcare: pay 34.4% more in Wellington
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.0 times more in Wellington
Clothing: pay 4.2% more in Wellington

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

Wellington vs. San Jose Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 26.7% more for restaurants

	San Jose	Wellington
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$10.83 CRC5,499.19	$14.93 NZ$25.04	+37.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.72 CRC4,934.00	$8.96 NZ$15.02	-7.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.99 CRC1,012.34	$2.57 NZ$4.32	+29.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.46 CRC741.82	$2.15 NZ$3.61	+47.5%
Average			+26.7%

San Jose vs. Wellington - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 15.8% more for groceries

	San Jose	Wellington
Bread 1 loaf	$2.60 CRC1,318.45	$1.96 NZ$3.29	-24.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.26 CRC2,165.48	$4.15 NZ$6.96	-2.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.23 CRC3,672.41	$6.98 NZ$11.71	-3.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.26 CRC1,656.57	$6.84 NZ$11.47	+109.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.41 CRC2,237.52	$5.06 NZ$8.48	+14.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.95 CRC990.43	$1.40 NZ$2.34	-28.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.63 CRC320.02	$1.09 NZ$1.83	+73.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.59 CRC807.86	$1.48 NZ$2.48	-7.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.35 CRC684.51	$2.61 NZ$4.38	+93.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.30 CRC659.83	$1.01 NZ$1.70	-22.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.19 CRC604.73	$0.84 NZ$1.41	-29.6%
Average			+15.8%

San Jose vs. Wellington - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 65.0% more for transportation

	San Jose	Wellington
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.49 CRC2,786.51	$6.42 NZ$10.76	+17.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$38.02 CRC19,306.95	$127.57 NZ$213.93	+235.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,925.49 CRC18,749,195.70	$34,339.84 NZ$57,588.22	-7.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$15.94 CRC8,094.23	$18.22 NZ$30.55	+14.3%
Average			+65.0%

San Jose vs. Wellington - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.0 times more for housing

	San Jose	Wellington
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$53.59 CRC27,213.08	$54.27 NZ$91.01	+1.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$742.08 CRC376,796.37	$1,487.35 NZ$2,494.29	+100.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$463.60 CRC235,397.07	$1,335.17 NZ$2,239.10	+188.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$63.06 CRC32,016.96	$134.11 NZ$224.90	+112.7%
Average			+100.6%

San Jose vs. Wellington - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 34.4% more for childcare

	San Jose	Wellington
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$521.49 CRC264,791.27	$871.44 NZ$1,461.41	+67.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,425.72 CRC6,309,251.58	$12,649.75 NZ$21,213.75	+1.8%
Average			+34.4%

San Jose vs. Wellington - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.0 times more for entertainment and sports

	San Jose	Wellington
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.92 CRC1,480.20	$7.17 NZ$12.02	+145.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.69 CRC1,874.29	$3.41 NZ$5.72	-7.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.05 CRC2,565.68	$24.46 NZ$41.01	+384.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$59.70 CRC30,313.67	$39.85 NZ$66.83	-33.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.72 CRC4,934.00	$12.24 NZ$20.53	+26.0%
Average			+103.0%

San Jose vs. Wellington - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 4.2% more for clothing

	San Jose	Wellington
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$73.59 CRC37,363.93	$75.78 NZ$127.08	+3.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$50.81 CRC25,800.37	$55.09 NZ$92.39	+8.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$125.98 CRC63,969.11	$119.44 NZ$200.31	-5.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$117.31 CRC59,566.93	$129.60 NZ$217.33	+10.5%
Average			+4.2%

San Jose vs. Wellington - 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

San Jose vs.

Rome

San Jose vs.

Moscow

San Jose vs.

Quito

San Jose vs.

Singapore

San Jose vs.

Nairobi

San Jose vs.

Washington

San Jose vs.

Dublin

San Jose vs.

Delhi

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

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

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 San Jose

Add prices for Wellington

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

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