🇨🇷 Costa Rica vs 🇿🇦 South Africa
Side by side on the data that actually changes your life: prices, taxes, climate, air, safety. Every number has a source and a date.
Climate (capital)
Open-Meteo historical weather
Jan 20° · Jul 21° · San José
—
Sunny days (capital)
Open-Meteo, days with over 4.5h of sunshine
341 days / yr
—
Air quality (capital)
WAQI, capital station
AQI 21 · Good
—
Big Mac price
The Economist Big Mac index (euro-area countries share one euro-area price)
$6.04
$3.36
Employment taxes (not your rate)
OECD tax wedge, single average worker
~28% of what a job costs goes to tax (2025)
—
Special tax regimes
Official tax authorities, verified June 2026
Territorial taxation
None curated
Inflation
World Bank
-0.1% / yr (2025)
3.2% / yr (2025)
Unemployment
World Bank, ILO-modelled estimate
6.8% (2025)
32.4% (2025)
Internet (median fixed)
Ookla Speedtest Global Index
—
~50 Mbps
English proficiency
EF English Proficiency Index
—
high
Messenger apps
OONI network measurements, last 6 months
No known issues
No known issues
Safety advisory
U.S. State Department travel advisory
Level 2 · Exercise Increased Caution
—
Population
World Bank total population
5.2M (2025)
64.7M (2025)
Population density
World Bank, people per km²
100 / km² (2023)
52 / km² (2023)
Foreign-born residents
World Bank migrant stock
12.2% of population (2024)
4.1% of population (2024)
Life expectancy
WHO
79 yrs
62 yrs
Currency
ISO 4217
CRC
ZAR
Timezone (capital)
Open-Meteo
UTC-6
—
Crypto-friendly
Legal
Short-term gains
0%
18%
Long-term gains
0%
18%
Long-term holding period
—
—
Staking income
—
45%
Mining income
—
45%
General rates, not personal tax advice.
Climate, inflation and life expectancy verified 12 July 2026. Prices, taxes and air quality verified 7 July 2026. Sources shown per row.
Bottom line: which should you choose?
Pick 🇿🇦 South Africa if you want
lower day-to-day costs.
Based only on the sourced metrics above. Visa eligibility and paperwork depend on your passport — build a free plan for the full picture.
Frequently asked questions
Is Costa Rica or South Africa cheaper?
South Africa is the cheaper of the two on our comparable cost measure (Big Mac $3.36 vs $6.04). Your real cost depends on the city and lifestyle — see the full table above, then generate a free plan for a budget matched to your exact move.
Special tax regimes, verified
Regimes change often and many sites still advertise closed ones. We link the official source for each.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Foreign-source income untaxed
Verified June 2026 · Ministerio de Hacienda
Numbers are half the story
Your visa route, paperwork and deadlines depend on where you hold a passport. Get a free checklist personalized to your exact move.