Abu Dhabi vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1942	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4262	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$1271	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$2152	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$77.2	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3050	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	53	95
😀 Quality of life	85	69
🏙️ Population	1.57M	11.5M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 85% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 2187th and 5192nd ($1942 vs $1052) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in the United Arab Emirates and Brazil, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 443rd and 4142nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Sao Paulo infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/abu-dhabi/sao-paulo.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Sao Paulo infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/abu-dhabi/sao-paulo" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Sao Paulo

Prices for goods and services in Abu Dhabi and Sao Paulo are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Abu Dhabi	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.9	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.6	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.53	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.7	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.34	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1358	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1002	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2476	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1762	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.6	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.01%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5485	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12028	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.63	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.97	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.63	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.07	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.41	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.54	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.29	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.83	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.73	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.92	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.4	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.5	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.4	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$598	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12663	$15428

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Abu Dhabi

Distance	City	Cost of living
117 km or 73 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2514
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1419
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1449
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2521
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1228
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1849
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1770
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$792
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1078
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1201
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1230
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1081
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$530
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$908
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1008
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$529
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$873
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$930
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$534
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$568
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$553
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$453
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$477
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$530
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$503
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$573
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$557
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$761
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$624
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$463
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1627
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$483

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$737
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$701
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$697
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$698
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$690
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$712
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$656
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$605
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$691
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$687
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$704
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$830
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$671
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$699
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$643
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$699
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$665
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$706
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$639
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$780
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$671
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$654
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$689
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$702
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$666
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$693
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$678
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$664
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$685
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$687
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$657
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$741
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$737
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$618
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$673
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$648
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$816
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$638
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$659
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$666