Cape Town vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$681	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$701
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	56	95
😀 Quality of life	55	69
🏙️ Population	3.78M	11.5M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 17% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 4637th and 5192nd ($1231 vs $1052) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 6312th and 4142nd 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	$11.5	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$15428

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	$1243
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$666
371 km or 231 mi	George	$857
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$946
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1005
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$746
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$814
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$988
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$861
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1304
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$784
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$598
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$650
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$901
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$762
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$948
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$808
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$833
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$904
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$637
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$637
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$706
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$984
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$940
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$668
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$607
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$890
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$985
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$984
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$892
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$927
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$857

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$737
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$701
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$697
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$698
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$690
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$712
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$656
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$605
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$691
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$687
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$704
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$830
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$671
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$699
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$643
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$699
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$665
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$706
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$639
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$780
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$671
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$654
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$689
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$702
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$666
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$693
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$678
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$664
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$685
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$687
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$657
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$741
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$737
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$618
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$673
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$648
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$816
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$638
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$659
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$666