Costa Rica
Latest Average Wage
+4.9% · 5 years
$44,431
Country Comparison
Costa Rica vs Latvia
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Costa Rica
vs
Latvia
$44,4312024
Latest Average Wage
Latvia +0.6%
(vs Costa Rica)
$44,7092025
+4.9%2024
5-Year Wage Change
Latvia +7.4 pts
(vs Costa Rica)
+12.3%2025
+21.9%2024
10-Year Wage Change
Latvia +16.9 pts
(vs Costa Rica)
+38.8%2025
61.32024
Overall Price Level
Costa Rica +9.1 index points
(vs Latvia)
52.22024
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
Latvia
Latest Average Wage
+12.3% · 5 years
$44,709
Wage Milestones
Costa Rica
10 Years Ago
$36,459 (2014)
Historical Peak
$46,398 (2020)
Latest Wage
$44,431 (2024)
Latvia
10 Years Ago
$32,207 (2015)
Historical Peak
$44,709 (2025)
Latest Wage
$44,709 (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)Latvia (LVA)
Overall
+9.1 index points
100
61.3vs52.2
Food
+16.8 index points
100
107vs90.2
Clothing
−14.1 index points
100
78.4vs92.5
Housing
−0.6 index points
100
30.5vs31.1
Health
+36.0 index points
100
67vs31
Transport
−0.1 index points
100
86.3vs86.4
Recreation
+8.3 index points
100
79.2vs70.9
Restaurants & Accommodation
−1.6 index points
100
73.8vs75.4
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Latvia's latest average wage is $44,709 for 2025, about 0.6% higher than Costa Rica's $44,431 for 2024 — computed straight from the two reported values. That is roughly $278 a year on the same PPP basis. The two figures come from different reference years.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Latvia shows the stronger movement at +3.3%, against 0.0% for Costa Rica. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +12.3% against +4.9%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Health shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 67 for Costa Rica against 31 for Latvia. Costa Rica sits on the higher side of that 36.0-point spread; Latvia reads 36.0 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 Transport: Costa Rica reads 86.3 and Latvia 86.4 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Housing at 0.6 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Costa Rica and Latvia report nearly the same PPP-adjusted average annual wage: $44,709 for 2025, against $44,431 for 2024. The difference is 0.6% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $278 a year, which is small next to either figure. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. The reference years differ — 2024 for Costa Rica and 2025 for Latvia — so part of the gap reflects timing rather than level, and the two records are kept separate. For most side-by-side readings the two wage levels can be treated as equivalent within this dataset.
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%. Latvia sits at the highest point of its series — $44,709 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +38.8%. Latvia's five-year change of +12.3% outpaces Costa Rica's +4.9% 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 Latvia's reads 52.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Costa Rica leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Latvia in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Health separates the two most: Costa Rica reads 67 and Latvia 31, 36.0 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (86.3 versus 86.4), only 0.1 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Costa Rica's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 0 of Latvia's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
