---
title: "Costa Rica — capital, area, population and currency"
description: "Costa Rica: capital San José, area 51,100 km², population 5,152,950 (2025), currency Costa Rican colón. Languages, time zones and calling code."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country/costa-rica/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Costa Rica

**Costa Rica: Capital San José**

51,100 km² · 5,152,950 people (2025) · Costa Rican colón

Costa Rica covers about 0.03 percent of the Earth's surface but holds roughly five percent of its known species. More than a quarter of the country is protected, forest cover has roughly doubled since the 1980s, and it runs on close to 100 percent renewable electricity most years. It has around sixty volcanoes, six of them active.

## The facts

- **Capital:** San José
- **Area:** 51,100 km² — 19,730 sq mi
- **Population:** 5,152,950 (2025)
- **Density:** 100.8 people per km²
- **Currency:** Costa Rican colón (CRC, ₡)
- **Official language:** Spanish
- **Time zone:** UTC-06:00
- **Calling code:** +506
- **Drives on the:** right
- **ISO codes:** CR · CRI
- **Continent:** North America

## How it compares

- **By area:** 127 of 200
- **By population:** 127 of 200

> Population is the only figure on this page that dates — it is a 2025 estimate and will drift. Area, capital, currency, languages, calling code and driving side change rarely or never.

## Countries of a similar size

| Country | Area (km²) | Population |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Croatia | 56,594 | 3,876,200 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 51,197 | 3,140,095 |
| Costa Rica ← | 51,100 | 5,152,950 |
| Slovakia | 49,035 | 5,413,813 |
| Dominican Republic | 48,670 | 11,520,487 |

## Common questions

### What is the capital of Costa Rica?

San José

### What currency does Costa Rica use?

The Costa Rican colón (CRC).

### How big is Costa Rica?

51,100 km², or 19,730 square miles — 127 of 200 by area.

### Which side of the road does Costa Rica drive on?

The right.

## Related pages

- [Croatia](https://atoneplace.net/country/croatia/)
- [Bosnia and Herzegovina](https://atoneplace.net/country/bosnia-and-herzegovina/)
- [Slovakia](https://atoneplace.net/country/slovakia/)
- [Dominican Republic](https://atoneplace.net/country/dominican-republic/)
- [United States](https://atoneplace.net/country/united-states/)
- [Mexico](https://atoneplace.net/country/mexico/)
- [Canada](https://atoneplace.net/country/canada/)
- [Guatemala](https://atoneplace.net/country/guatemala/)
- [Haiti](https://atoneplace.net/country/haiti/)
- [Dominican Republic](https://atoneplace.net/country/dominican-republic/)
- [Honduras](https://atoneplace.net/country/honduras/)
- [Cuba](https://atoneplace.net/country/cuba/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]