Bucharest vs Sao Tome - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Sao Tome
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$1046
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$2477
🏠 One person rent	$525	$343
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$551
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$571
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$38.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$218
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	77	1
😀 Quality of life	81	28
🏙️ Population	1.72M	65.5K

The cost of living in Bucharest is 7% more expensive than in Sao Tome. Cities ranked 4913th and 5224th ($1116 vs $1046) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Romania and Sao Tome and Principe, respectively. Check Romania vs Sao Tome and Principe comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 0.2 months in Sao Tome. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Sao Tome ranked 1st in Sao Tome and Principe, while ranked 646th and 8852nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Sao Tome infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Bucharest vs Sao Tome

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

	Bucharest	Sao Tome
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.7	$29.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$32.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$11.5
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$1.67
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$2.31
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$1.93
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$315
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$209
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$581
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$375
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$40.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$62.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$71.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	7.41%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$1452
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$943
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$1.23
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$47.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$7.43
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.68
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.58
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$1.06
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$2.32
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$5.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$20.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$25.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$4.63
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.16
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$3.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.59
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$2.02
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.28
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$9.26
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$1.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$2.31
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$4.08
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$3.08
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$1.54
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$1.29
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$37.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$21
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$20.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$4.09
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$33.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$68
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$130
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$4068

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	$970
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$910
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$885
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$777
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$802
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$692
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$857
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$775
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$762
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$873
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$675
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$681
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1056
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$752
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$835
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$667
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$789
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$898
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$909
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$643
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$895
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$591
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1039
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1024
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1103
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$618
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$805
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$703
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$854
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$832
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$926
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$797
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$706
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$848
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$766
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$724
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$668
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$749

Cities near Sao Tome

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.3 km or 5.1 mi	Trindade	$1044
256 km or 159 mi	Port-Gentil	$660
303 km or 188 mi	Libreville	$708
375 km or 233 mi	Bata	$1241
443 km or 275 mi	Malabo	$1413
492 km or 306 mi	Port Harcourt	$676
494 km or 307 mi	Limbe	$755
509 km or 316 mi	Buea	$665
529 km or 328 mi	Douala	$1363
537 km or 333 mi	Aba	$674
543 km or 337 mi	Calabar	$397
565 km or 351 mi	Kumba	$849
574 km or 356 mi	Owerri	$1774
584 km or 363 mi	Umuahia	$961
587 km or 365 mi	Warri	$926
649 km or 403 mi	Onitsha	$1051
653 km or 406 mi	Awka	$878
660 km or 410 mi	Yaounde	$671
677 km or 421 mi	Benin	$632
684 km or 425 mi	Enugu	$563
702 km or 436 mi	Bafoussam	$793
730 km or 454 mi	Bamenda	$698
772 km or 480 mi	Owo	$664
774 km or 481 mi	Lagos	$1102
788 km or 490 mi	Akure	$644
806 km or 501 mi	Pointe-Noire	$585
822 km or 511 mi	Porto-Novo	$743
824 km or 512 mi	Cotonou	$793
827 km or 514 mi	Ado Ekiti	$642
829 km or 515 mi	Ife	$778
845 km or 525 mi	Ibadan	$752
846 km or 526 mi	Abeokuta	$1013
861 km or 535 mi	Osogbo	$705
884 km or 549 mi	Kayes	$536
889 km or 552 mi	Lome	$835
890 km or 553 mi	Oyo	$664
892 km or 555 mi	Cabinda	$706
907 km or 564 mi	Madingou	$536
924 km or 574 mi	Gamboma	$536
926 km or 575 mi	Abomey	$598