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I know this is personal. But we are trying to figure out how to live in Costa Rica. Without totally giving up travel and some spoiled American habits, what kind of income are Americans living in Costa Rica living on? I would love to hear how you are all doing it. Remember, this is all anonymous. Real numbers would be great!
Koty
This is probably the most frequently asked question on this forum. If you search “cost of living” on this forum there are 352 posts. That would be a good place to start. If you google “Cost of living Costa Rica” there are probably another bizillion articles. They will all say it depends on how you want to live. People get by on $1200 per month…others can spend $5,000 0r $6,000. What are your “spoiled American habits” What kind of house do you want? (buy or rent). Do you want to live on the beach, in the country, or in the city? Define “live comfortably”. Do you have children and do you want them to go to private schools? There are a lot of things that will determine YOUR cost of living in CR.
I think everyone would agree that whatever you are living on in the US or Canada or ??? will probably go farther in Costa Rica.
I guess I would say we would buy a home so would not have a mortgage to pay. We would have the added expense of a child in an international school. We would like to have satellite TV and internet service and would need international insurance. We would probably need 2 cars unless we could find a house close enough to our son’s school and town. I expect we would live close to the beach. We would like to travel home to US 3-4 times per year. Sometimes we would like to travel within Costa Rica/Central America and also eat out at restaurants once in a while as well as buy some premade foods and things for convenience. I like to Scuba Dive but really don’t have any other expensive hobbies. Most of our entertainment would come from natural exploration and socializing. I am not a collector of “things”. If we were working a lot we would need a nanny/housekeeper and perhaps a gardener. I have read a lot of the articles you talk about but many of them are rather vague and not descriptive as to how people are living, what they are doing etc. I would love to hear from individuals that describe what it is like, what they are giving up and how they are living.
You will need a lot of money here but less then you need in the US. Some of the things you want to do will cost you more then they do in the US. You need to work? Are you opening a business or are you coming here with a job?
Insurance on two old cars is expensive here. We pay about $800 a year for our 92 Suzuki. We have robbery insurance on it and the robbery part is high. At home we would only carry liability, because no one at home usually steals an old car. Some people I know are paying as much as $3,000 per year for newer cars. If you dont buy it then you have to keep an eye on it all the time. I know some people that do that to.
The packaged foods, you are going to have to learn how to cook or you will pay a lot of money for packaged frozen foods. In fact almost all the US products shipped here will cost you a pretty penny.
The best thing to do is come and research. Most of the young couples we have met that come here either determine to live different then they live at home or they go back.
Resturants, unless you develop a real like for the Costa Rican cuisine you will not be eating out much. The price for two at Denny’s here is about $30.00. We have an OutBack steak house but it is in Escazu.
Living close to the beach will not be close to the International school unless you mean close within an hour or so.
Maid service is not expensive but if you do not pay a good salary you will not get good service. If done legally and the right way it is much cheaper then the USA. In Costa Rica if your maid gets pregnant by law she gets at least 1 year off with pay to see about her baby. The year may be much but it is at least 6 months. So you can be paying for two maids and only have one that is working.
They have some workers laws that are better then the laws in the US.
When you come to Costa Rica you are not moving to another large country. You are moving to a third world country. Here in Costa Rica everyone does not have a TV set nor car. Most of them do not have hot water in the house nor do they have a dryer . A dishwasher is unheard of and it is common place in the US.
You can live very comfortable over here but keeping up the lifestyle you are used to in the US is almost if not impossible. My suggestion is, stay home if all those things are important to you and you need a job to fund it. Unless you are coming here with a high paying job or a business that is a success, or money in investments that you recieve an income from. Your lifestyle will be very costly.
Probably less costly then the US but in the US you are making the income. It is a wonderful idea to be able to have a fun filled life, live good, live cheap and it can be done but you will have to make some concessions. What you will have to evaluate, is what are you willing to give up for what you can get in return. Private schools here are much cheaper the the US, but cheaper does not mean they do not have to be funded.
If you are still young with in your budget you are going to have to set up a retirement fund for yourself. So in figuring what you are going to spend make sure you include college education, and retirement.
Nothing is constant but one thing is for sure you are going to grow older if you live. When you grow older you have different desires but they still cost. So if you are planning to cut out on the US make sure you have a plan of stratedgy and it has to be more then what it would cost it has to include what will I be able to save towards my future.
Well Koty,
If you are buying a house and don’t want a mortgage you can buy a home for less than 100,000.0 if you want to live in a tico neighborhood with a tico home.
The cost of living is much cheaper than in the U.S. if you go to the open markets on Saturdays you can buy a water melon for less than a dollar here in Minnesota it is now at 6.99.
Private schools are cheaper than the U.S. and just as good.
My question is what kind of job will you do?
Do you already have a job with the big companys before you come to Costa Rica?
I know that my mother in law lives very well on less than 400.00 a month but she is a Tica and lives a Tica life, how ever she does support her six dogs! hahahaha She does not go to the movies (because she never liked them) She dosen’t travel, She travels from Tres Rios to San Jose every day just to hang out for fun at the family biz. She dosent go to the fast food resturants, just the Sodas around the house, and her house is five years old and paid off.
Now if you go the high end like my brother in-laws they run though about $3,000 to $4,000 a month, have brand new cars, shop at the high end retail and do what ever they want.So again it just depends on what you want. If you go to the brand new Tres Rios mall and shop at Tommy Hilfiguar a shirt will still cost you $30.00 to $80.00 and a plasma screen TV will still cost 1,400. to 3,000.00
The real cost savings is in the property taxes, health care, food (not Dennys! Just tico food)and labor.
Edited on Aug 13, 2006 09:22
Koty: Three of us lived in Puerto Viejo for about $1,000 per month, but I chose a certain lifestyle, a very simple lifestyle, which involved renting an open-air Caribbean style home, not owning a car (utilizing bicycles and the public bus system), and eating mostly foods from the market, rather than packaged imported foods. It sounds like you are more suited to the ‘Pacific’ lifestyle, and even on that side of the country, some changes and flexibility will be necessary to integrate properly. Life in Costa Rica will never be just like life in the States, but then, that’s probably why you are considering a move.
Edited on Aug 13, 2006 17:51
Thank you for all of your input. How do I explain the type of lifestyle I would like, I want a big enough house so that my parents and family could come to visit us in the Winter instead of going to Florida, that I dont have to wash my dishes by hand and that I don’t have to do my laundry every day and can dry it to get the humidity out. I want a pool so my son learns to be safe around water and someone to look after my son on occassion so that his dad and I can have our alone time. I want a car so that we can explore the country we choose to live in. On the other hand, I want chickens to raise my own eggs, want to make homemade granola bars, want to live on more veggies and fish, want to donate to the local school system, and want my son to grow up next to people who are different than he is. I don’t want to forget other places in the world and would like to continue to travel there on occassion. I want to be able to Scuba dive and keep a garden where I can exchange produce with my neighbors. I want to live somewhere where my son can bike without geting hit by trucks and traffic and somewhere that is beautiful enough to help him appreciate how beautiful the world is. I dont need designer clothes but may want to splurge on great skin care products. Does all of this make sense? If and when we move to CR we are really looking forward to establishing another lifestyle and trying to instill in our son those kind of values. We realize that a total “re-set” needs to take place. Who raises those children that live their dream? What were Amelia Earhart’s, Ansel Adams’, and Jane Goodall’s etc….. parents like that made them feel they could do what they loved? I want enough time to learn how to enjoy life more, enjoy my son, have family time, decrease stress, and live more healthily. We want him to to grow up with a view of the world that is much more expanded than the one we are currently living and how we have grown up. We want him to live next to people that are happy but have no money. We want him to learn another language. We have learned that working to live and living to work are two sepparate ideas. We have lived a rather exceptional lifestyle here in the states (worked hard but realize that life can be and should be much simpler)and our important question becomes “why do we want to leave what many Americans would consider to be the “perfect life”. Well the answer is, we have come to realize that life is too short, we have nothing to prove and we are not getting any younger. We don’t want our son to become his parents. Because of some hard work and lucky real estate investments we would only have to work to make some extra spending money and are thinking that some simple rental properties or a little B&B would provide us with the income that we need. It is a very difficult thing for us to give up a “sure thing” and a life that is what many would consider to be what they strive to attain, but we have never bought into the materialistic, suburban, American lifestyle and have found Costa Rica to be the place we want to live. It is the only place I have visited when traveling that I do not want to leave. All of this information and criticism that everyone has given us is very important to us when making this important decision. We appreciate the real life scenarios and detailed financial information.
Thanks!
Koty
Wow, I hate to say this and burst your bubble. Life in the Real Costa Rica is not that simple. If you really want to know what real life is in Costa Rica you need to talk to my mother in-law. Don’t get me wrong, Costa Rica is a great country but it is not the garden of Eden if you are looking for that. You do have to watch out for the drivers running over your kids and your self.
You can live in a buble here if you have the money but real life is dirt floors and trying to make enough money to survive another day.
If I were you I would suggest renting a home for 6 months before you buy.Ok, I guess I went a little overboard on the last post… sometimes I get to dreaming and it happens. My husband is much more realistic. Let me turn this around. If we sold everything here, we would have about 3,000 a month after buying a house and a car. This would not dip into our retirement and actually we may have a little more for the first year or two if my husband gets the severance he is hoping for. So what do you think? Could we do it?
A house large enough for the extended family, a pool, some sort of nanny arrangement, a car, a beautiful location where a kid can ride a bike safely, health care, adequate food, great skin care products, support the local schools . . . (what have I missed?)
This sounds to me like a $4,000 – $5,000 per month after taxes lifestyle — minimum. You’ll save very little growing your own produce. Chickens and eggs? Maybe a few dollars. I have yet to see a Costa Rican home with a vegetable garden, so I’m afraid you’ll be doing more donating than exchanging.
If you own a decent car, it’ll be a target for thieves. That means theft insurance which you’ll find very expensive. And the annual “marchamo” on a good car will surprise you.
My guess is that you won’t be satisfied with the CAJA medical care system, so you’ll need to either buy health insurance or pay cash. By comparison to prices in the U.S., health care here is a great bargain, but it’s not free.
My rule of thumb for planning purposes is that you should be able to spend $65US per square foot for whatever house you build. That does not include the cost of the property or the pool. Maybe that will be high, but if it’s a strain then maybe you need to rethink your needs.
The cost of most imported goods from the U.S. is higher here than in the U.S., so if you’re dependent upon a particular brand of skin care products, for example, you’ll either pay a premium price or have to import them and pay for expensive shipping and maybe Customs duty.
Several years ago, I met an Air Force F-16 fighter pilot instructor who told me that they hammer into their students not to “. . . come in at 500 knots with a 300 knot plan.”
You can definitely do it. It’s been addressed here but not explained about the job situation. You can not come down here and work. It is prohibited by law. It sounds like that is not a problem. If you have $3000 per month you have soooooo many options. Renting in an area for at least 6 months is important. You may find something you like right away and buy it still. If you buy at a decent price it will be an investment if nothing else if you decide that is not where you want to live. Renting for 6 months lets you find out if you like that particular area, town, neighbors, etc.
I don’t think you are looking to live in a bubble at all. Real life here is not dirt floors. I’m not sure which Costa Rica scottbenson is living in. Yes there may be some very poor families with a dirt floor. That is far from the norm and I think is rare. Ticos for the most part do live a simple life style and do not have fancy things and what most might consider some luxuries. You are seeking many of the same things most people are looking for that make a move like you are considering. My wife and I came to the conclusion that “life’s too short….don’t waste it”. It is the motto on our website where we share our experiences of the move we made and our daily lives here. http://www.dktreadway.com
One thing is certain, after only 6 months here you will almost certainly change your philosophy on some of those things you thought you wanted or were important.
There are areas such as where we live where your children ride their bikes and walk to the local school without fear of getting run over by cars. We live in Esterillos Oeste, a small beach community of mostly gravel roads. There is no traffic that you would find in even small towns.
A very viable and rewarding option on the schooling is home schooling your child. We have friends here that moved down two years ago with 10 and 12 year old girls. They are homeschooling the girls. The mom also volunteers and teaches an after school English class and her husband teaches a computer class. My wife has started helping with an afternoon art class. I just mention these things to point out there are a lot of things you can involve yourself and your family in that you will find rewarding and fufillment of many of the things you mention you are looking for. Participating in things like that in the community is an education in itself. I admire people that take risks. One of the most common comments we got from friends and family when we were ready to make our move was “I wish I had the guts to do what you’re doing”. It’s not for everyone, but the experiences you and your children will have, money really can’t buy. Traveling and living in a foreign country is an education in itself.
as to budget……wow! $3000 a month will more than cover most of what you think is important. You almost certainly won’t need two cars. A nicer used car with ac and 4 wheel drive is good for exploring the country. We live on about $1000 to $1200 per month and don’t really budget ourselves. We eat out several times a week and frequent our favorite watering hole for drinks right down by the beach.
One thing I would suggest is that you nix the raising your own chickens idea. It’s not as simple and glamorous as it seems. The expense and hassle to raise them properly to really produce enough eggs for your family at least to me is not worth it. Eggs are not expensive. Having a garden will be easy as long as you have some extra ground where ever you are living. We by all our fruits and veggies at the farmers market on Friday mornings. We get all we need for the whole week for about $10.
I hope some of this is helpful. Feel free to contact me if you need any ideas or want to bounce ideas off someone. Don’t let anyone steal your dream.
Pura Vida
whoa, David, what Costa Rica are you living in? Sure someone can come down and spend $4000 to $5000 per month, but what Koty is looking for can be had on much less than that. You sound more like someone trying to scare new comers from coming down here than someone answering questions and giving advice about a move here. I think almost everyone simplifies their life once getting down here and living here for awhile, and that will make a big downward adjustment to the monthly budget. I have to vehemently disagree with your cost analysis. It just doesn’t hold water.
Koty:
The lifestyle you say you want in costa rica sounds very complicated, not simple at all, and extremely costly. I don’t agree with some of what ScottBenson said about having to live with dirt floors or not being able to buy a house for less than a hundred K unless it is in a Tico neighborhood. I bought land and built an 1800 sq foot house for $85,000 — I have all the amenities of a $500,000 house where I live in the States — custom cabinets, granite countertops, travertine sinks, a mosaic mural of Monet’s waterlillies in my bathroom. I am NOT in a Tico neighborhood per se, but there is a mix of cultures, not all Americans. You don’t really seem prepared to sacrifice anything for The Simple Life. As for high end skin care, it’s a total waste of money and I’m talking from experience as someone who used nothing but Erno Lazslo for years whose soap costs $32.00 a bar and that is the cheapest item in his line. You’ll need less of this chemicalized crap in Costa Rica — the humidity will keep your skin moist, and Bio-Land, which is the organic food company in CR, makes a fabulous coconut oil soap that costs about $.75. Put some coconut oil on your skin after that and you’re out a total of about $10.00 for six months worth of face goop. I moved to CR for all the reasons you mentioned, but I don’t want all the trappings of the US lifestyle, which is clearly what you said you want. Jenny made some good points about the maid service; yes, it’s a deal in CR but not without its problems when it comes to paying Caja ect. Your lifestyle in the States sounds extravagant and it also sounds like you want to duplicate that life in CR. Be prepared to pay top dollar for those things you say you need. Air Travel is very expensive when it originates from Costa Rica. Providing lodging for an extended family will cost you and arm and a leg in the end and complicate your life. Having two cars? Wow, not THAT is an extravagance and an unnecessary one. Costa Rica is NOT the Hamptons (where I used to live so I know about high-end everything); it is a Two-point-five world country and unless you adapt to a more simple lifestyle, you will have taught your child nothing except what it is a like to be a rich kid in a poor country.Yes, you are right for most North Americans and Ticos dirt floors are not the Majority but it is also not the minority. Many families such as my wife’s cousins in San Ramon do have dirt floors and have 6 kids. They pick coffee and scratch every day for money for food for their family. My brother in-laws wife’s family live in a suburb of San Jose. Their home is made out of plywood. They are not considered a poor family but they are not rich either.
When most North American people come to visit Costa Rica as tourist they leave thinking that life is always Pura Vida in CR. This is why I have to interject a different point of view because of my experience and total respect for ticos and their society.
To think that Costa Rica is a garden of Eden is giving people a wrong impression and sets them up for a fall. You have to give them all of the facts so they can see the good with the bad.
You can simplify you life but you have to be realistic if you are making 3,000.00 a month from the states that can be enough to live on. But it might not be as much as you think if you want to go and buy your cloths at Tommy Hilfiger.
How ever I believe Kote is looking for something other than retirement they are bringing a family down. This makes it more expensive, and as well they have to realize they can’t make a living here working in this society other wise they will be illegal. With the new regulations I believe you will have to make more than 3,000 a month with a family of 3. Remember we have to be legal here in the host country.
Never the less Costa Rica is still cheaper than the U.S. to RETIRE in and is safe.We too are contemplating the move to Costa Rica but have only visited as tourists. We realize that there is a BIG difference between being a tourist and actaully living there. We plan on visiting again in Feb. for a month or 2 and then again during the “green” season to get a better feel for things. If we still feel that we would like to live there we would probably try to rent a house for 6 months to be sure this is right for us. We are retired so we don’t have to quit our jobs and have no children to move….your decision is a much bigger one.
My suggestion to you would be try to visit as often as possible before you take the plunge and look at things that are not part of the tourist industry. See for yourself what $1500 per month or $3000 per month or $5000 per month will get you. Another persons comfort level may be totally different that yours. Keep in mind that approximately 40% of the people that move to CR leave within 5 years. I assume that it is because life in CR is not what they thought it would be. That’s probably more of a reflection on their lack of research than it is a reflection on Costa Rica.
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