Costa Rica
Latest Average Wage
+4.9% · 5 years
$44,431
Country Comparison
Costa Rica vs Germany
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Costa Rica
vs
Germany
$44,4312024
Latest Average Wage
Germany +71.7%
(vs Costa Rica)
$76,2852025
+4.9%2024
5-Year Wage Change
Costa Rica +2.9 pts
(vs Germany)
+2.0%2025
+21.9%2024
10-Year Wage Change
Costa Rica +14.8 pts
(vs Germany)
+7.1%2025
61.32024
Overall Price Level
Germany +10.2 index points
(vs Costa Rica)
71.52024
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
Germany
Latest Average Wage
+2.0% · 5 years
$76,285
Wage Milestones
Costa Rica
10 Years Ago
$36,459 (2014)
Historical Peak
$46,398 (2020)
Latest Wage
$44,431 (2024)
Germany
10 Years Ago
$71,244 (2015)
Historical Peak
$76,285 (2025)
Latest Wage
$76,285 (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)Germany (DEU)
Overall
−10.2 index points
100
61.3vs71.5
Food
+18.3 index points
100
107vs88.7
Clothing
−12.0 index points
100
78.4vs90.4
Housing
−33.6 index points
100
30.5vs64.1
Health
+16.3 index points
100
67vs50.7
Transport
−27.7 index points
100
86.3vs114
Recreation
−7.4 index points
100
79.2vs86.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
−17.3 index points
100
73.8vs91.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Germany's latest average wage is $76,285 for 2025, about 71.7% higher than Costa Rica's $44,431 for 2024 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $31,854 on the shared purchasing-power basis. The two figures come from different reference years.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Germany shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against 0.0% for Costa Rica. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Costa Rica at +4.9% and Germany at +2.0% — 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 64.1 for Germany. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 33.6 index points apart, Germany above Costa Rica. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Recreation: Costa Rica reads 79.2 and Germany 86.6 for 2024, just 7.4 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Overall at 10.2 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 — Germany's latest average wage of $76,285 for 2025 stands well above Costa Rica's $44,431 for 2024. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 71.7% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $31,854 a year. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. 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 Germany +7.1%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series rise, with different momentum on each side. Costa Rica has barely moved in the latest year (0.0%), while the ten-year change stands at +21.9%. Germany sits at the highest point of its series — $76,285 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +7.1%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +4.9% for Costa Rica against +2.0% for Germany, so the distance between the two levels keeps shifting. 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 Germany's reads 71.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Germany reads higher in 6 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 64.1 for Germany, a gap of 33.6 index points. At the other end, Recreation brings the two closest — 79.2 versus 86.6, a gap of just 7.4 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Costa Rica reads above 100 in 1 of its 8 reported categories, and Germany in 1 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
