Bucharest vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Bucharest	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1148	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2906	$2856
🏠 One person rent	$562	$538
🏘️ Family rent	$953	$954
🍽️ Food expenses	$380	$331
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.3	$149
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1455	$843
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	78	96
😀 Quality of life	84	75
🏙️ Population	1.72M	11.5M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 2% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 4877th and 4918th ($1148 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd 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 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 482nd and 1670th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$11.6	$7.66
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.8	$42.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.12	$8.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.49	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$3.67	$2.69
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.58	$1.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$600	$649
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$404	$405
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1100	$1195
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$694	$747
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$64.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$169	$97.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.73	$20.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.95%	11.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3876	$2685
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2257	$1939
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.89	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$20.9	$44.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.32	$9.09
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.89	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.78	$2.77
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.51	$12.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.56	$5.23
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$10.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$2.77
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.78	$1.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$2.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.48	$10.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$2.85
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.99	$6.72
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.53	$3.63
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$1.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$46.2	$33.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.26	$9.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.5	$48.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$84.4	$60.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.5	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$703	$486
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14018	$15990

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	$995
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$920
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$896
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$800
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$776
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$708
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$801
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$722
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$771
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$1018
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$653
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$672
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1120
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$762
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$801
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$705
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$701
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$804
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$857
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$870
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$953
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$662
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$906
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$610
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1140
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1041
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1119
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$676
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$818
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$733
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$874
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$824
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$823
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$809
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$702
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$855
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$749
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$807
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$673
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$725

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$821
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$759
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$783
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$765
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$700
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$793
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$713
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$664
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$737
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$713
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$761
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$886
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$716
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$715
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$737
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$752
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$717
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$753
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$720
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$848
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$746
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$699
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$747
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$713
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$722
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$752
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$733
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$723
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$706
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$721
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$710
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$794
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$776
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$673
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$728
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$687
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$901
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$700
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$716
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$720