Buenos Aires vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Buenos Aires	Rio de Janeiro
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1139	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2758	$2347
🏠 One person rent	$496	$458
🏘️ Family rent	$854	$770
🍽️ Food expenses	$430	$258
🚐 Transport expenses	$94.9	$137
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$797	$442
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	78	95
😀 Quality of life	78	67
🏙️ Population	3.12M	6.21M

The cost of living in Buenos Aires is 21% more expensive than in Rio de Janeiro. Cities ranked 4856th and 6006th ($1139 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in Argentina and Brazil, respectively. Check Argentina vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Buenos Aires compared to 0.5 months in Rio de Janeiro. Buenos Aires ranked 1st best city to live in Argentina vs Rio de Janeiro ranked 2nd in Brazil, while ranked 1059th and 4818th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Buenos Aires vs Rio de Janeiro infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/buenos-aires/rio-de-janeiro.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Buenos Aires vs Rio de Janeiro infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/buenos-aires/rio-de-janeiro" target="_blank">Buenos Aires vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Buenos Aires vs Rio de Janeiro

Prices for goods and services in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Buenos Aires	Rio de Janeiro
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.6	$6.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53	$31.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11	$6.48
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.64	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$4.02	$2.36
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.2	$1.31
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$527	$501
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$370	$324
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$940	$881
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$669	$563
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$66.4	$79.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$103	$125
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$28.1	$18.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	36.41%	11.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2703	$1966
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1993	$1150
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.69	$1.25
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$20.8	$41.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.26	$7.88
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.09
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.4	$1.06
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.28	$1.48
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.1	$2.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$8.65
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.88	$3.96
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.1	$8.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.56
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$1.47
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.22
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.13
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.39	$1.69
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.92	$7.11
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.12	$1.17
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.44	$1.99
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.96	$3.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.33	$3.18
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.53	$1.06
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.8	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.1	$25.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.51	$6.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$23.9	$51.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$8.04
👖 Brand Jeans	$108	$45.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$74.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$360	$531
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5464	$12076

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Buenos Aires

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.9 mi	Villa Dominico	$770
11 km or 7 mi	Lanus	$879
13 km or 7.9 mi	Wilde	$715
13 km or 8.1 mi	Remedios de Escalada	$859
14 km or 8.7 mi	Caseros	$949
14 km or 8.8 mi	Florida Este	$861
14 km or 8.9 mi	Ciudad Madero	$949
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bernal	$641
15 km or 9.4 mi	Monte Chingolo	$811
15 km or 9.6 mi	Lomas del Mirador	$983
17 km or 10 mi	La Tablada	$990
17 km or 10 mi	Quilmes	$590
18 km or 11 mi	Ramos Mejia	$981
18 km or 11 mi	San Justo	$1032
19 km or 12 mi	El Palomar	$968
19 km or 12 mi	Temperley	$871
19 km or 12 mi	Lomas de Zamora	$895
19 km or 12 mi	San Isidro	$844
19 km or 12 mi	Ciudad Evita	$946
19 km or 12 mi	San Francisco Solano	$766
20 km or 12 mi	Villa Luzuriaga	$981
20 km or 13 mi	Rafael Calzada	$858
22 km or 13 mi	Isidro Casanova	$980
22 km or 13 mi	Ezpeleta	$661
22 km or 14 mi	Moron	$1029
24 km or 15 mi	San Fernando de la Buena Vista	$817
24 km or 15 mi	Florencio Varela	$859
24 km or 15 mi	Burzaco	$848
24 km or 15 mi	Berazategui	$710
25 km or 15 mi	Gregorio de Laferrere	$951
25 km or 16 mi	Rafael Castillo	$959
25 km or 16 mi	Monte Grande	$874
29 km or 18 mi	Ezeiza	$886
29 km or 18 mi	Longchamps	$846
29 km or 18 mi	Libertad	$954
31 km or 19 mi	Gonzalez Catan	$935
32 km or 20 mi	Glew	$841
32 km or 20 mi	Merlo	$947
36 km or 23 mi	Jose C. Paz	$906
37 km or 23 mi	Virrey del Pino	$897

Cities near Rio de Janeiro

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Niteroi	$739
18 km or 11 mi	Duque de Caxias	$653
21 km or 13 mi	Sao Joao de Meriti	$648
26 km or 16 mi	Belford Roxo	$810
31 km or 19 mi	Nova Iguacu	$590
45 km or 28 mi	Petropolis	$706
60 km or 37 mi	Teresopolis	$498
70 km or 44 mi	Saquarema	$564
98 km or 61 mi	Nova Friburgo	$445
102 km or 64 mi	Volta Redonda	$539
108 km or 67 mi	Barra Mansa	$557
112 km or 70 mi	Sao Pedro da Aldeia	$530
115 km or 72 mi	Angra dos Reis	$683
121 km or 75 mi	Cabo Frio	$525
130 km or 81 mi	Juiz de Fora	$550
135 km or 84 mi	Rio das Ostras	$506
137 km or 85 mi	Resende	$603
157 km or 97 mi	Macae	$625
184 km or 115 mi	Cruzeiro	$631
196 km or 122 mi	Barbacena	$540
199 km or 123 mi	Lorena	$673
200 km or 124 mi	Ubatuba	$632
201 km or 125 mi	Uba	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Guaratingueta	$643
215 km or 134 mi	Muriae	$613
226 km or 140 mi	Sao Joao del-Rei	$541
231 km or 144 mi	Campos dos Goytacazes	$518
232 km or 144 mi	Pindamonhangaba	$620
238 km or 148 mi	Itajuba	$536
240 km or 149 mi	Caraguatatuba	$625
241 km or 150 mi	Taubate	$611
242 km or 150 mi	Vicosa	$618
245 km or 152 mi	Sao Sebastiao	$633
251 km or 156 mi	Tres Coracoes	$559
257 km or 160 mi	Conselheiro Lafaiete	$644
258 km or 160 mi	Cacapava	$657
264 km or 164 mi	Lavras	$530
275 km or 171 mi	Varginha	$492
277 km or 172 mi	Sao Jose dos Campos	$819
279 km or 173 mi	Ponte Nova	$586