Bucharest vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bucharest	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$988	$976
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2566	$2532
🏠 One person rent	$474	$462
🏘️ Family rent	$877	$837
🍽️ Food expenses	$339	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$67.6	$134
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1247	$581
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	77	95
😀 Quality of life	79	65
🏙️ Population	1.72M	11.5M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 1% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 5565th and 5654th ($988 vs $976) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in Romania and Brazil, respectively. Check Romania vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Bucharest compared to 0.6 months in Sao Paulo. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 645th and 4281st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bucharest vs Sao Paulo infographic

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

Prices in Bucharest vs Sao Paulo

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

	Bucharest	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.5	$6.51
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$44.7	$36.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.25	$6.68
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$2.12
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$2.27
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$1.15
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$557
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$337	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$999	$1051
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$658	$677
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$90.8	$43.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$65.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.28	$18.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.1%	11.38%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3094	$2420
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1793	$1633
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.63	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$17.3	$44.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.57	$7.37
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.52	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$1.43
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.14
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.05	$2.32
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.55	$9.78
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.56	$4.18
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$7.95
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$2.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.75
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.94	$1.47
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.01	$1.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.28	$8.53
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$1.22
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.84	$2.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.38	$4.69
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.93	$3.85
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.61	$1.44
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.03	$1.32
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$25.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.92	$7.36
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.8	$62.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$11.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$72.9	$51.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$84	$78.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$569	$527
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11573	$14254

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$867
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$847
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$796
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$633
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$704
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$629
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$729
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$696
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$722
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$743
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$623
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$622
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$938
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$770
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$594
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$680
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$702
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$752
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$741
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$848
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$598
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$786
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$631
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$892
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$929
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1002
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$546
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$698
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$837
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$718
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$812
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$725
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$574
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$721
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$687
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$650
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$605
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$758

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$687
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$645
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$662
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$647
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$618
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$661
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$618
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$563
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$636
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$628
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$624
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$703
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$622
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$635
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$612
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$621
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$613
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$626
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$605
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$612
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$627
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$600
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$624
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$641
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$614
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$628
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$619
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$615
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$644
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$656
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$603
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$663
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$722
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$568
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$615
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$569
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$732
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$607
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$609
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$611