At a Mexican market, ask ¿a cómo?, not ¿cuánto cuesta?

Both are correct Spanish. But at a tianguis or mercado in Mexico, shoppers ask <span class="es">¿a cómo?</span>: at how much, per kilo or per piece.

¿Cuánto cuesta? is grammatically perfect and understood everywhere. At a tianguis or mercado, though, it's the phrase of someone who learned Spanish from a book. Market prices almost always come per unit (per kilo, per piece, per bunch), and the local question is built around that.

¿A cómo? means "at how much?" and the answer comes back in the same shape: a treinta el kilo, a diez la pieza. You'll hear ¿a cómo el kilo?, ¿a cómo está el aguacate? or just ¿a cómo? with a point of the finger when the unit is obvious.

The vendor's next question is usually ¿cuánto le doy? (how much shall I give you?). Answer with a weight: medio kilo, un kilo, un cuarto. And careful with ¿cuántos años tiene?: that asks how old something is, not what it costs.

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