Cape Town vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1366	$1115
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3099	$2824
🏠 One person rent	$773	$537
🏘️ Family rent	$1343	$943
🍽️ Food expenses	$355	$318
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$147
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$404	$794
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	55	96
😀 Quality of life	55	74
🏙️ Population	3.78M	11.5M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 22% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 4432nd and 5003rd ($1366 vs $1115) 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Cape Town ranked 4th best city to live in South Africa vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 6382nd and 2408th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$12.5	$7.85
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.7	$38.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.71	$7.52
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.13	$2.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.42	$2.66
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$1.26
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$874	$631
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$594	$419
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1556	$1111
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1079	$769
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.1	$56.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$129	$85.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39	$19.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.25%	11.97%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2160	$2842
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1500	$2178
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.16	$1
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.7	$49.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.46	$7.86
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.21	$1.63
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.28
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.91	$2.81
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.29	$12.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.21	$5.07
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.46	$10.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.86
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.34
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.18
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.54
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.84	$2.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.59	$9.77
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$1.45
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.44	$2.76
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.94	$5.92
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.02	$3.82
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$1.29
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.6	$31.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.6	$8.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$39.1	$55.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$11.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.9	$61.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$264	$494
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5378	$16798

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	$1345
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$718
371 km or 231 mi	George	$927
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$980
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1036
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$811
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$874
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1050
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$927
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1419
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$795
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$763
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$630
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$681
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$952
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$573
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$826
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$986
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$604
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$875
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$826
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$901
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$791
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$934
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$697
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$694
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$865
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$765
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$716
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1057
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$1017
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$731
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$662
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1171
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$958
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1023
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1089
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$948
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$968
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$905

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$795
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$754
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$753
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$753
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$742
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$782
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$699
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$645
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$746
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$741
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$753
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$883
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$724
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$752
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$687
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$750
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$716
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$754
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$684
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$841
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$723
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$700
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$741
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$753
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$715
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$741
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$727
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$713
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$739
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$737
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$695
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$789
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$783
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$651
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$725
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$655
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$882
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$691
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$703
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$719