Country Overview

Wages and Prices in Costa Rica

Costa Rica supplies a regional wage and price reference with its common-year wage, Overall index, and individual categories displayed as separate reported observations.

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Wage history

How Wages Have Changed in Costa Rica

Explore Costa Rica’s PPP-adjusted annual wage history using a reported range rather than a filled-in series.

PPP-adjusted annual wage (USD)2000–2024 · touch or hover points for the selected range

Price levels

Price Levels in Costa Rica

Compare everyday price levels using the United States benchmark of 100.

Overall

61.30Below U.S.38.7% below U.S.

Food

107.00Above U.S.7.0% above U.S.

Clothing

78.40Below U.S.21.6% below U.S.

Housing

30.50Below U.S.69.5% below U.S.

Health

67.00Below U.S.33.0% below U.S.

Transport

86.30Below U.S.13.7% below U.S.

Recreation

79.20Below U.S.20.8% below U.S.

Restaurants

73.80Below U.S.26.2% below U.S.

How to Read This View

Use 100 as the reference

The United States is fixed at 100 for every category. A value of 61.3 means that Costa Rica’s price level is about 38.7% below the U.S. benchmark, while a value of 107 means it is approximately 7% higher.

Compare categories, not household bills

Each row represents a separate spending category. The values show relative price levels rather than the actual amount a household spends. A higher food index does not necessarily mean that total living costs are higher by the same amount.

Check the selected year

The year buttons update all displayed categories together. Missing observations are shown as unavailable and are never replaced with values from another year.

Relative context

Costa Rica in Context

See how Costa Rica’s wage and selected price level compare with the OECD median and the United States.

Average Annual Wage

Costa Rica$44,431

OECD Median$60,690

United States$86,977

Selected Price Level

Costa Rica61.30

OECD Median67.25

United States100

Read the placement

Costa Rica’s 2024 PPP-adjusted annual wage is 26.8% below the OECD median. Its 2024 Overall price index of 61.3 is 38.7% below the U.S. benchmark, meaning that both measures sit on the same side of their references in this dataset. Wage and price observations refer to separately labelled years and should not be read as a household affordability score.

Country note

Understanding Wages and Prices in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is shown with its current common-year wage and a separate price-year label. The chart exposes the selected historical span without interpolation, while the page avoids converting a measured change into a causal story.

The highest displayed category indices for Costa Rica are Food at 107.00, Transport at 86.30, and Recreation at 79.20, while the overall index remains below the United States reference. Those measures describe relative prices, not an estimate of a household budget or a recommendation about where to live.