Costa Rica, press rank #26 · ~$1,400/mo

Can you live unwatched in San José?

Surveillance, facial recognition and crypto rules read here for the city itself, not the national average.

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The privacy scorecard

The six marked ° below are read for San José itself. The rest are set by Costa Rica’s national law, the same across every city in the country.

State surveillance °4/5
Facial recognition °5/5
No national ID3/5
Data-protection law4/5
Encryption4/5
VPN freedom5/5
Democracy5/5
Free expression5/5
Cash still works4/5
Financial privacy3/5
Crypto freedom °3/5
Easy to stay °4/5
Off-grid living °4/5
press rank #26 (Costa Rica) ~$1,400/mo, this city safety 3/5 geopolitical stability 5/5

Childhood vaccines: compulsory by law

The National Vaccination Law makes the schedule compulsory and free for everyone living in the country, residents or not.

If you skip them: Registration at school requires an up to date vaccination record.

Exemptions: Medical only.

Source: Georgetown AMP EID, survey of national legislation, 2024

Legal & financial exposure

Facts about the law, not a privacy score: whether each one helps or hurts depends on what you are trying to do.

Reports your account balances abroad (CRS)

Extradition treaty with the US

5 of 7 signals are unverified for this country: not shown, rather than guessed.

See San José against your own threat model

Filter thousands of real places across every country on the same signals, or open the full profile for Costa Rica.

Browse every place Costa Rica in full

Not just privacy?

Arcadia matches the same real places against how you actually want to live: weather, cost, healthcare, schools, internet.

Find where to live on Arcadia

City-level figures where marked °, national law otherwise. Estimates for orientation, not legal advice. Surveillance law changes fast: verify anything you would act on.