Costa Rica
Latest Average Wage
+4.9% · 5 years
$44,431
Country Comparison
Costa Rica vs United Kingdom
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Costa Rica
vs
United Kingdom
$44,4312024
Latest Average Wage
United Kingdom +49.2%
(vs Costa Rica)
$66,2992025
+4.9%2024
5-Year Wage Change
Costa Rica +3.8 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+1.2%2025
+21.9%2024
10-Year Wage Change
Costa Rica +18.6 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+3.3%2025
61.32024
Overall Price Level
United Kingdom +23.0 index points
(vs Costa Rica)
84.32024
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
United Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Wage Milestones
Costa Rica
10 Years Ago
$36,459 (2014)
Historical Peak
$46,398 (2020)
Latest Wage
$44,431 (2024)
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (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)United Kingdom (GBR)
Overall
−23.0 index points
100
61.3vs84.3
Food
+21.9 index points
100
107vs85.1
Clothing
−0.5 index points
100
78.4vs78.9
Housing
−64.9 index points
100
30.5vs95.4
Health
−5.1 index points
100
67vs72.1
Transport
−24.7 index points
100
86.3vs111
Recreation
−11.0 index points
100
79.2vs90.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
−13.4 index points
100
73.8vs87.2
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United Kingdom's latest average wage is $66,299 for 2025, about 49.2% higher than Costa Rica's $44,431 for 2024 — computed straight from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $21,868 on the same PPP basis. The two figures come from different reference years.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, United Kingdom shows the stronger movement at +0.7%, against 0.0% for Costa Rica. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Costa Rica at +4.9% and United Kingdom at +1.2% — 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 95.4 for United Kingdom. United Kingdom sits on the higher side of that 64.9-point spread; Costa Rica reads 64.9 index points lower on the US=100 scale. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: Costa Rica reads 78.4 and United Kingdom 78.9 for 2024, just 0.5 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Health at 5.1 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: United Kingdom reports $66,299 for 2025, while Costa Rica reports $44,431 for 2024. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 49.2% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $21,868 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.
Wage Direction
Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Costa Rica has barely moved in the latest year (0.0%), while the ten-year change stands at +21.9%. United Kingdom stands just below its historical high of $66,480 in 2019, only 0.3% away, with a ten-year change of +3.3%. Costa Rica's five-year change of +4.9% outpaces United Kingdom's +1.2% in magnitude, so the common direction does not mean the two levels are holding a fixed distance. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Costa Rica's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 61.3, and United Kingdom's reads 84.3, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: United Kingdom sits higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories. Housing separates the two most: Costa Rica reads 30.5 and United Kingdom 95.4, 64.9 index points apart. The two sit closest in Clothing (78.4 versus 78.9), only 0.5 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Costa Rica's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of United Kingdom's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
