Retirement in Costa Rica

Retiring in Costa Rica is increasingly more popular. Costa Rica offers one of the highest standards of living and provides some of the best services in Latin America. This is appealing to retirees. Costa Rica offers a good year-round climate, friendly local people, minimal violent crime, virtually no political strife, long life expectancy, and is army free.

The cost of services and goods in Costa Rica are considerably lower than most city's in Latin America and, in some cases, throughout the world. Some of the services that are considerably less than in the U.S. or Canada include domestic help, telephone service, electricity and water. Transportation is very inexpensive, while gasoline costs more but is cheaper than other Latin American countries with the exception of oil-producing Mexico and Venezuela. San Jose has the second lowest prices of any city in Latin America.

Costa Rica has a private health care system that is affordable and many doctors have certification from the United States. If visiting on a short-term basis, it's best to buy health insurance from your home country. However, if you are living full time in Costa Rica, costs are about 50% less expensive than in the U.S. This is also true of dental care.

Additional reasons for choosing Costa Rica for retirement include the sheer number of other ex-pats who have chosen Costa Rica. As a result, there are communities for socializing. In addition, there are numerous activities for residents, which include bird watching, scuba diving, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, etc.

Legal considerations for retirement

It's possible to retire in Costa Rica and qualify for a legal retiree status which permits foreigners to reside in Costa Rica. There's a status called pensionado which literally translates to retired. With a minimum proven pension of US$600 per month, a foreigner can apply for pensianado status and live legally in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has some requirements about transferring the aforementioned pension amount to Costa Rica and holding this in their currency — colones. The transfer needs to be demonstrated/documented for the authorities to verify.

There is a status called rentista which is applicable to foreigners and requires the individual to receive a fixed monthly income of no less than US$1,000 per person or US$2,000 per couple. The funds can come from local earnings or from abroad and must be converted to colones. View a more detailed explanation about retirement regulations for foreigners in Costa Rica.

More travel information on popular destinations in Costa Rica

Learn more about popular travel destinations in Costa Rica.