Costa Rica minimum wage
Costa Rica has no single national minimum wage. The Consejo Nacional de Salarios (tripartite body under Ley N.º 832 de 1949) fixes a MATRIX of statutory minimums by OCCUPATION/SKILL CATEGORY each year (resolution by 1 Nov, officialized by MTSS executive decree effective 1 Jan). This series carries the lowest generic monthly rate: Trabajador en Ocupación No Calificada, ocupaciones genéricas por mes.
| Current value | 373092.3 CRC/month (Trabajador en Ocupación No Calificada, genérico por mes — lowest generic monthly rate; see notes for full schedule) |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-01-01 |
| Official source | Decreto Ejecutivo N.º 45303-MTSS del 08/11/2025, 'Fijación de salarios mínimos para el sector privado que regirán a partir del 1° de enero del 2026' (La Gaceta N.º 229, Alcance 156, 05/12/2025) — texto completo en SCIJ |
| Last verified | 2026-07-16 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
Costa Rica's minimum wage is an OCCUPATIONAL matrix (no geographic zones). Decreto 45303-MTSS Art. 1 sets: (a) DAILY rates — Ocupación No Calificada ₡12,436.41; Semicalificada ₡13,523.69; Calificada ₡13,991.86; Especializada ₡16,244.50; (b) GENERIC MONTHLY rates — No Calificada ₡373,092.30 (the value shown); Semicalificada ₡405,710.70; Calificada ₡419,755.80; Especializada ₡487,335.00; Técnicos Medios de Educación Diversificada ₡496,838.17; Técnicos de Educación Superior ₡542,096.58; Diplomados ₡585,484.58; Bachilleres Universitarios ₡664,078.07; Licenciados Universitarios ₡796,921.00 (top of matrix); (c) SPECIFIC fixings — Trabajo doméstico ₡268,731.31/month (the absolute lowest monthly figure, but a special category on a 15-year catch-up path of +2.33962%/yr extra), coffee pickers ₡1,184.10/cajuela, estibadores per kilo/tonne/movement, trabajadores de especialización superior ₡25,209.80/day. Art. 2 makes the No Calificada DAILY rate the fallback floor for any work not otherwise covered — the 'salario mínimo minimorum'; the monthly No Calificada figure is shown here as the clearest monthly floor. 2026 fixing = general increase of 1.63% over 2025 (CNS sesión ordinaria N.º 5886, 27 Oct 2025) plus pre-agreed extra increments: Trabajo Doméstico +2.33962%, Especializada genérico mensual +0.5562880%, Técnico Medio Ed. Diversificada +0.88768%. Fixings are annual but MID-YEAR revisions occur (e.g., Resolución RG-MTSS-CNS-1-2025 raised the TMED category to ₡484,568.18 from 1 Jul 2025), hence the ~200-day update cycle. MTSS pages (mtss.go.cr) were Cloudflare-blocked at confirmation; figures verified against the decree text on SCIJ (official PGR legal-information system). Next annual fixing expected effective 1 Jan 2027.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-01-01 | 367108.55 | Decreto Ejecutivo N.º 44756-MTSS del 07/11/2024 (La Gaceta N |
Get it programmatically
curl https://usaref.dev/v1/cr/minimum-wage
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://usaref.dev/v1/cr/minimum-wage/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://usaref.dev/provenance/cr/minimum-wageOther Costa Rica series: policy interest rate · VAT rate · public holidays · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates