Costa Rica
Latest Average Wage
+4.9% · 5 years
$44,431
Country Comparison
Costa Rica vs Canada
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Costa Rica
vs
Canada
$44,4312024
Latest Average Wage
Canada +52.8%
(vs Costa Rica)
$67,9012025
+4.9%2024
5-Year Wage Change
Costa Rica +5.2 pts
(vs Canada)
−0.3%2025
+21.9%2024
10-Year Wage Change
Costa Rica +16.9 pts
(vs Canada)
+5.0%2025
61.32024
Overall Price Level
Canada +24.7 index points
(vs Costa Rica)
862024
Wages are PPP-adjusted average annual wages; price levels use the United States reference of 100. Years shown are each country's latest reported observation.
How Wages Have Changed
Follow PPP-adjusted average annual wages in constant prices across both economies.
USD PPP, constant prices · missing years shown as gaps, never interpolated
Canada
Latest Average Wage
−0.3% · 5 years
$67,901
Wage Milestones
Costa Rica
10 Years Ago
$36,459 (2014)
Historical Peak
$46,398 (2020)
Latest Wage
$44,431 (2024)
Canada
10 Years Ago
$64,667 (2015)
Historical Peak
$68,434 (2021)
Latest Wage
$67,901 (2025)
Compare Everyday Price Levels
See how eight consumer price categories compare with the United States reference value of 100.
United States = 100 · Differences shown in index points
Costa Rica (CRI)Canada (CAN)
Overall
−24.7 index points
100
61.3vs86
Food
−1.0 index points
100
107vs108
Clothing
−39.6 index points
100
78.4vs118
Housing
−52.6 index points
100
30.5vs83.1
Health
+4.8 index points
100
67vs62.2
Transport
−16.7 index points
100
86.3vs103
Recreation
−12.8 index points
100
79.2vs92
Restaurants & Accommodation
−23.8 index points
100
73.8vs97.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Canada's latest average wage is $67,901 for 2025, about 52.8% higher than Costa Rica's $44,431 for 2024 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. In annual terms the gap comes to about $23,470 on the same PPP basis. The two figures come from different reference years.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Canada shows the stronger movement at +0.2%, against 0.0% for Costa Rica. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Costa Rica at +4.9% and Canada at −0.3% — so the latest year is not the whole story. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Housing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 30.5 for Costa Rica against 83.1 for Canada. That is a separation of 52.6 index points on the US=100 scale, with Canada on the higher side and Costa Rica on the lower one. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Food: Costa Rica reads 107 and Canada 108 for 2024, just 1.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Health at 4.8 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Few pairings separate this cleanly — Canada's latest average wage of $67,901 for 2025 stands well above Costa Rica's $44,431 for 2024. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 52.8% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $23,470 a year. Because both values already sit on the same USD PPP, constant-2025-price footing, the comparison adjusts for price-level differences between the two economies. For scale, neither series has moved by that much within any single reported year, so the gap is structural rather than the product of one unusual observation. Over ten years Costa Rica recorded +21.9% and Canada +5.0%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
No single shared direction describes this pairing; each side follows its own recent path. Costa Rica has barely moved in the latest year (0.0%), while the ten-year change stands at +21.9%. Canada stands just below its historical high of $68,434 in 2021, only 0.8% away, with a ten-year change of +5.0%. With the five-year changes at +4.9% for Costa Rica and −0.3% for Canada, the horizons are clearer when read side by side rather than folded into one trend statement. All changes here are measured in real, PPP-adjusted terms, so they describe purchasing-power movement rather than nominal pay increases.
Price Profile
Costa Rica's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 61.3, and Canada's reads 86, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Canada reads higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories, so the price profile leans consistently to one side. The widest separation is in Housing: 30.5 for Costa Rica against 83.1 for Canada, a gap of 52.6 index points. At the other end, Food brings the two closest — 107 versus 108, a gap of just 1.0 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Costa Rica reads above 100 in 1 of its 8 reported categories, and Canada in 3 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
