Costa Rica Cities

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Costa Rica Cities by Population

119 cities shown of 119 total Costa Rica cities that are over 1,000 in population...

1. San Jose 335,007
2. Puerto Limon 63,081
3. San Francisco 55,923
4. Alajuela 47,494
5. Liberia 45,380
6. Paraiso 39,702
7. Puntarenas 35,650
8. San Isidro 34,877
9. Curridabat 34,586
10. San Vicente 34,447
11. San Vicente de Moravia 34,447
12. San Jose 31,430
13. Purral 30,034
14. Turrialba 28,955
15. San Miguel 28,827
16. San Pedro 27,477
17. San Rafael Abajo 27,419
18. Quesada 27,310
19. Ipis 26,669
20. Cartago 26,594
21. Chacarita 26,354
22. San Juan 26,047
23. Mercedes 26,007
24. Guadalupe 26,005
25. Aserri 25,874
26. San Rafael 25,410
27. San Felipe 24,985
28. Patarra 23,983
29. Tejar 22,433
30. Heredia 21,947
31. San Pablo 21,662
32. Calle Blancos 20,710
33. Canas 20,306
34. Guapiles 19,092
35. Siquirres 18,231
36. San Rafael 17,649
37. San Diego 16,991
38. Colima 15,875
39. Esparza 15,575
40. San Juan de Dios 15,469

41. Nicoya 15,313
42. San Rafael Arriba 15,051
43. Desamparados 14,448
44. Concepcion 14,000
45. Alajuelita 13,845
46. Sabanilla 13,251
47. Granadilla 12,683
48. Santa Cruz 12,281
49. San Josecito 12,195
50. Escazu 12,071
51. Naranjo 11,853
52. Buenos Aires 11,680
53. San Antonio 10,938
54. San Ramon 10,765
55. Tres Rios 10,430
56. Daniel Flores 10,028
57. Rio Segundo 9,853
58. Colon 9,687
59. San Rafael 8,887
60. Santiago 8,292
61. Santa Ana 8,029
62. Quepos 7,810
63. San Juan 7,729
64. Tilaran 7,301
65. Corredor 7,084
66. Guacimo 7,022
67. Atenas 7,014
68. Cot 6,784
69. Golfito 6,777
70. Llorente 6,626
71. Miramar 6,540
72. Orotina 6,135
73. Santo Domingo 5,745
74. Salitrillos 5,738
75. Mercedes 5,467
76. Pocora 5,248
77. Juntas 4,737
78. Batan 4,584
79. Canoas 4,573
80. La Asuncion 4,383

81. Orosi 4,350
82. La Cruz 4,319
83. Carrillos 4,258
84. San Marcos 4,255
85. Upala 4,185
86. Bagaces 4,108
87. Jaco 4,085
88. Tobosi 4,060
89. San Vito 3,981
90. Ciudad Cortes 3,850
91. Parrita 3,734
92. San Rafael 3,624
93. Zarcero 3,559
94. Los Chiles 3,342
95. Sardinal 3,267
96. San Ignacio 3,072
97. Fortuna 3,010
98. Pocosol 2,947
99. Salitral 2,833
100. Belen 2,715
101. Tucurrique 2,697
102. La Suiza 2,434
103. Roxana 2,351
104. Matina 2,315
105. Santiago 2,107
106. Pital 2,046
107. Sixaola 1,823
108. Hojancha 1,823
109. Fortuna 1,774
110. Nandayure 1,649
111. Pejibaye 1,630
112. Pacayas 1,556
113. Palmichal 1,545
114. Esquipulas 1,512
115. Paquera 1,510
116. Angeles 1,355
117. Bijagua 1,090
118. Samara 1,071
119. Sabanilla 1,015

Costa Rica History

The northwest of the country, the Nicoya Peninsula, was the southernmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors came in the sixteenth century. The central and southern portions of the country had Chibcha influences. However, the indigenous people have influenced modern Costa Rican culture to a relatively small degree, as most of these died from diseases such as smallpox and mistreatment by the Spaniards.

The first European to reach what is now Costa Rica was Christopher Columbus in 1502. During Spanish Colonial times, the largest city in Central America was Guatemala City. Costa Rica's distance from this hub led to difficulty in establishing trade routes and was one of the reasons that Costa Ricans developed in relative isolation and with little oversight from the Spanish Monarchy. While this isolation allowed the colony to develop free of intervention by The Crown, it also contributed to its failure to share in the prosperity of the Colonies, making Costa Rica the poorest Spanish Colony in Central America. Costa Rica was described as ""the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all Americas"" by a Spanish governor in 1719."

Another contributing factor to this poverty was the lack of indigenous people used as forced labor. While many Spaniards in the other colonies had tribal members working on their land, most of the Costa Rican settlers had to work on their own land themselves. For all these reasons Costa Rica was by and large unappreciated and overlooked by the Crown and left to develop on its own. It is believed that the circumstances during this period led to the formation of many of the idiosyncrasies that Costa Rica has become known for, while at the same time setting the stage for Costa Rica's development as a more egalitarian society than the rest of its neighbors. Costa Rica became a ural democracy"" with no oppressed mestizo or indigenous class. It was not long before Spanish settlers turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil and a climate that was milder than that of the lowlands."

Costa Rica joined other Central American provinces in 1821 in a joint declaration of independence from Spain. After a brief time in the Mexican Empire of Agustn de Iturbide Costa Rica became a state in the Federal Republic of Central America from 1823 to 1839. In 1824 the capital was moved to San Jos, but due to an intense rivalry with Cartago, violence briefly ensued. Although the newly independent provinces formed a Federation, border disputes broke out among them, adding to the region's turbulent history and conditions.

Costa Rica's membership in the newly formed Federal Republic of Central America, now free of Spanish rule, was short lived; in 1838, long after the Central American Federation ceased to function in practice, Costa Rica formally withdrew and proclaimed itself sovereign. The distance from Guatemala City to the Central Valley of Costa Rica, where most of the population lived and still lives, was great. The local population had little allegiance to the government in Guatemala City, in part because of the history of isolation during Colonial times. Costa Rica's disinterest in participating as a province in a greater Central American government was one of the deciding factors in the break-up of the fledgling federation into independent states, which still exist today. However, all of the Central American nations still celebrate September 15th as their independence day, which pertains to the independence of Central America from Spain.

Most Afro-Costa Ricans, who constitute about 3% of the country's population, descend from Jamaican immigrants who arrived during the 1880s to work in the construction of railways connecting the urban populations of the Central Plateau to the port of Limn on the Caribbean coast. U.S. convicts and Chinese immigrants also participated in the construction project, conducted by US businessman Minor C. Keith. In exchange for completing the railroad, the Costa Rican government granted Keith large tracts of land and a lease on the train route, which he used to produce bananas and export them to the United States. As a result, bananas came to rival coffee as the principal Costa Rican export, while foreign-owned corporations began to hold a major role in the national economy.