Cape Town vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$1012
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$2565
🏠 One person rent	$603	$481
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$852
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$285
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$145
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$477
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	55	95
😀 Quality of life	59	63
🏙️ Population	3.78M	11.5M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 11% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 4849th and 5616th ($1120 vs $1012) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in South Africa and Brazil, respectively. Check South Africa vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.5 months in Sao Paulo. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Sao Paulo ranked 2nd in Brazil, while ranked 5407th and 4573rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Sao Paulo infographic

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Sao Paulo

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

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.8	$6.82
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$38.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$7.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$1.13
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$371
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$1002
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$694
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$50.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$77.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$19.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	10.91%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$2416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$1687
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$0.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$47.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$8.27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$1.4
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$4.11
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$7.71
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$2.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.86
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.36
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.74
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.83
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$8.17
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$1.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$2.23
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$4.84
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$3.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$24.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$7.65
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$57.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$51.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$84.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$482
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$13135

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$850
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$649
371 km or 231 mi	George	$790
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$901
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$970
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$741
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$792
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$953
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$859
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1286
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$703
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$581
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$627
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$862
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$774
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$832
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$788
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$809
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$779
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$692
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$690
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$717
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$971
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$943
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$718
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$654
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$874
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$840
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$997
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$834
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$818
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$790

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$716
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$665
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$691
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$674
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$644
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$686
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$657
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$573
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$663
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$640
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$627
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$738
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$640
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$639
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$643
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$640
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$639
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$631
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$633
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$621
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$656
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$606
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$647
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$645
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$641
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$679
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$636
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$639
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$661
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$674
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$640
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$698
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$742
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$595
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$630
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$653
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$746
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$650
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$638
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$629