If you have lived in Costa Rica on a US income since 2023, you have probably noticed something odd. Your grocery bill looks the same in colones. Your landlord has not asked for much more. The news says prices are falling. And yet your money runs out sooner every month.
You are not imagining it. Costa Rica did not get more expensive in colones. It got more expensive in dollars, because the dollar buys far fewer colones than it used to.
At the start of 2023 one US dollar bought 596 colones. On 13 October 2026 it bought 452. That is a fall of about 24 percent in the local value of every dollar you bring into the country, and it happened while official inflation was close to zero.
Here is what happened, what it means for a typical retirement budget, and what you can do about it.
What happened to the colón
The Banco Central de Costa Rica publishes the exchange rate every working day. Its figures tell a simple story. The colón has strengthened against the dollar in every year since 2023.
| Date | Colones per US dollar | What $1,000 converts to |
| 23 June 2022 (recent peak) | 698.40 | ¢698,400 |
| Start of 2023 | 596.10 | ¢596,100 |
| End of 2023 | 523.46 | ¢523,460 |
| 26 December 2024 | 509.32 | ¢509,320 |
| 30 December 2025 | 499.81 | ¢499,810 |
| 5 March 2026 | 478.40 | ¢478,400 |
| 13 October 2026 | 452.35 | ¢452,350 |
Rates are the MONEX weighted average published by the Banco Central de Costa Rica. Conversions are our own calculation.
In March 2026 the rate dropped to 478, its lowest level since July 2005. By October it was close to 450. Measured from the June 2022 peak, a dollar now buys about 35 percent fewer colones.
What it means for a US pension
Costa Rica’s pensionado residency asks for at least US$1,000 a month in pension income. The rentista route asks for US$2,500 a month. Both figures are set in dollars by the immigration law, Ley General de Migración y Extranjería No. 8764, articles 81 and 82. Neither has changed.
What those dollars buy has changed a great deal.
| Monthly income | In colones, start of 2023 | In colones, October 2026 | Lost each month |
| $1,000 (pensionado minimum) | ¢596,100 | ¢452,350 | ¢143,750 |
| $2,500 (rentista minimum) | ¢1,490,250 | ¢1,130,875 | ¢359,375 |
Our calculation from Banco Central de Costa Rica rates.
Put the other way round: to buy what $1,000 bought at the start of 2023, you now need about $1,318.
That figure leaves out changes in colón prices. They were small. Year-on-year inflation was negative for 16 months in a row, up to August 2026. So for most people the exchange rate is not one factor in the cost of living. It is nearly the whole of it.
Why “prices are falling” does not help you
Costa Rica’s official inflation figures are real, and they are good news for people who earn colones. In September 2026, consumer prices rose 0.34 percent on a year earlier, according to the national statistics institute, INEC. That was the first positive reading after 16 straight months below zero. Over the first nine months of 2026, prices fell by 0.39 percent overall.
The central bank’s target is 3 percent a year, give or take a point. Inflation has been running well under it.
None of that reaches you if your income arrives in dollars. A price that stays at ¢10,000 still costs you more each year, because you need more dollars to make ¢10,000. Stable local prices and a strengthening currency add up to a steady rise in your real cost of living.
This is why so many cost-of-living guides now feel wrong to people on the ground. Most quote a monthly budget in US dollars, worked out at an exchange rate that no longer exists.
Where it hurts most
Rent. Rents are not standing still. INEC’s figures show rents up 3.27 percent in the year to September 2026, close to ten times headline inflation. If your rent is set in colones, you pay that rise and the currency loss on top.
Anything priced in colones. Groceries at the feria, local services, domestic help, municipal charges, transport. All of it is now dearer in dollar terms, even where the colón price has not moved.
Fixed dollar budgets. People who planned a move around a set dollar figure, such as the pensionado minimum, have the least room. A budget that worked in 2023 can now be short by more than a fifth.
Where it hurts less
It is not all one way.
Electricity. Costa Rica’s regulator, ARESEP, cut electricity tariffs for 2026 by between 4.93 and 16.44 percent depending on the utility. That was the third cut in a row. The national utility, ICE, says a home using 200 kWh a month paid about ¢17,391 in the second quarter of 2022 and about ¢15,999 in 2026. In this case the colón price fell enough to soften the currency hit.
Costs priced in dollars. Some costs in Costa Rica are quoted in US dollars rather than colones. Where your cost and your income are in the same currency, the exchange rate does not matter. It is worth checking which of your regular costs are which.
Why the colón keeps getting stronger
The central bank’s own explanation, in its July 2026 monetary policy report, is a relative abundance of foreign currency coming into the country. Its net international reserves rose from US$14,575 million in March 2025 to US$19,115 million in March 2026, an increase of about 31 percent.
More dollars are arriving than people want to hold, so each dollar buys fewer colones. For Costa Rica as a whole this is a sign of strength. For a retiree on a fixed US income it works like a pay cut.
Will it turn around?
Nobody can tell you that, and you should be wary of anyone who claims to. Exchange rates are not forecastable with any reliability. The central bank expects inflation to climb back toward its target, averaging above 2 percent but below 3 percent from the third quarter of 2026 to the second quarter of 2028. That says something about local prices. It says nothing certain about the colón.
The safe assumption for planning is that the current rate could last, or move further against you.
What to do if you live on dollars
These are planning points, not financial advice. If you are making a large decision on currency, speak to a qualified adviser.
- Budget in colones, not dollars. Write down what your month actually costs in colones. Then convert it at today’s rate, not the rate when you moved. Do this every few months.
- Check what currency each cost is in. A lease in dollars behaves very differently from a lease in colones. So does a property price.
- Build in a buffer above the residency minimum. The pensionado requirement of $1,000 is a legal floor for residency. It is not a living budget, and it now buys about a quarter less than it did at the start of 2023.
- Re-run your sums before you move. Any budget worked out at 500 colones to the dollar or more now understates what you will spend. Check the rate a guide used before you trust its numbers.
- Remember the other dollar costs. If you are self-employed, Costa Rica has no social security agreement with the United States, so US self-employment tax still applies. We explain how that works in our digital nomad visa comparison.
The bigger picture
The exchange rate is not a reason to rule Costa Rica out. It is a reason to plan with today’s numbers rather than yesterday’s. Plenty of people living there on dollar incomes are doing fine. The ones under pressure are mostly those who moved on a tight budget built around an older rate.
If you are still weighing the move, our piece on why some expats leave Costa Rica and others stay covers the other side of the decision. For healthcare, see what nobody tells you about healthcare in Costa Rica. For the residency paperwork, see our guide to Costa Rica’s digital DIMEX. And for what is changing across the expat world next year, see what actually changes for expats in 2027.
Sources
| Figure | Source | Date |
| Exchange rate, 13 October 2026: 452.35 | Banco Central de Costa Rica, MONEX weighted average, table 770 | 13 October 2026 |
| 2023 opening and closing rates: 596.10 and 523.46 | El Financiero, citing Banco Central de Costa Rica | 30 December 2023 |
| End 2024 rate: 509.32 | CRHoy, citing Banco Central de Costa Rica | 3 January 2025 |
| End 2025 rate: 499.81 | El Financiero, citing Banco Central de Costa Rica | 3 January 2026 |
| March 2026 rate, 2022 peak, reserves | Infobae, citing Banco Central de Costa Rica | 16 March 2026 |
| Colón strength and inflation outlook | Banco Central de Costa Rica, Informe de Política Monetaria | 30 July 2026 |
| Inflation, September 2026 | INEC, reported by El Financiero | 7 October 2026 |
| Rents up 3.27 percent | INEC, reported by Infobae | 13 October 2026 |
| Electricity tariff cut for 2026 | ARESEP bulletin 74-2025 | 12 December 2025 |
| Electricity bill example | Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad | 12 March 2026 |
| Pensionado and rentista income minimums | Ley General de Migración y Extranjería No. 8764, articles 81 and 82 | In force |
| No US social security agreement with Costa Rica | US Social Security Administration, International Programs | Checked 14 October 2026 |
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If you have lived in Costa Rica on a US income since 2023, you have probably noticed something odd. Your grocery bill looks the same in colones. Your landlord has not asked for much more. The news says prices are falling. And yet your money runs out sooner every month.
You are not imagining it. Costa Rica did not get more expensive in colones. It got more expensive in dollars, because the dollar buys far fewer colones than it used to.
At the start of 2023 one US dollar bought 596 colones. On 13 October 2026 it bought 452. That is a fall of about 24 percent in the local value of every dollar you bring into the country, and it happened while official inflation was close to zero.
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