VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Seattle?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’s own page.

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. San Jose, Costa Rica 12, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 9 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 3 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 20 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 16 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Seattle 22: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Seattle.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSeattle

Where the figures come from

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSeattle
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m40 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSeattle
City population335,007737,015
People per km²7,5111,996
Museums within 10 km927
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Seattle somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.