Costa Rica
Latest Average Wage
+4.9% · 5 years
$44,431
Country Comparison
Costa Rica vs Portugal
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Costa Rica
vs
Portugal
$44,4312024
Latest Average Wage
Portugal +1.1%
(vs Costa Rica)
$44,9372025
+4.9%2024
5-Year Wage Change
Portugal +9.0 pts
(vs Costa Rica)
+13.9%2025
+21.9%2024
10-Year Wage Change
Portugal +1.2 pts
(vs Costa Rica)
+23.1%2025
61.32024
Overall Price Level
Costa Rica +5.6 index points
(vs Portugal)
55.72024
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
Portugal
Latest Average Wage
+13.9% · 5 years
$44,937
Wage Milestones
Costa Rica
10 Years Ago
$36,459 (2014)
Historical Peak
$46,398 (2020)
Latest Wage
$44,431 (2024)
Portugal
10 Years Ago
$36,520 (2015)
Historical Peak
$44,937 (2025)
Latest Wage
$44,937 (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)Portugal (PRT)
Overall
+5.6 index points
100
61.3vs55.7
Food
+19.4 index points
100
107vs87.6
Clothing
−4.0 index points
100
78.4vs82.4
Housing
−14.2 index points
100
30.5vs44.7
Health
+27.5 index points
100
67vs39.5
Transport
−5.7 index points
100
86.3vs92
Recreation
+12.7 index points
100
79.2vs66.5
Restaurants & Accommodation
+12.1 index points
100
73.8vs61.7
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Portugal's latest average wage is $44,937 for 2025, about 1.1% higher than Costa Rica's $44,431 for 2024 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. That is roughly $506 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, Portugal shows the stronger movement at +1.8%, against 0.0% for Costa Rica. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +13.9% 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 39.5 for Portugal. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 27.5 index points apart, Costa Rica above Portugal. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: Costa Rica reads 78.4 and Portugal 82.4 for 2024, just 4.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Overall at 5.6 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Costa Rica and Portugal report nearly the same PPP-adjusted average annual wage: $44,937 for 2025, against $44,431 for 2024. The difference is 1.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $506 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 Portugal — 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
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%. Portugal sits at the highest point of its series — $44,937 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +23.1%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +13.9% for Portugal against +4.9% for Costa Rica, 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 Portugal's reads 55.7, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Costa Rica leads in 5 of the 8 comparable categories and Portugal in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Health: 67 for Costa Rica against 39.5 for Portugal, a gap of 27.5 index points. At the other end, Clothing brings the two closest — 78.4 versus 82.4, a gap of just 4.0 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Costa Rica reads above 100 in 1 of its 8 reported categories, and Portugal in 0 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
