Cape Town vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1386	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3160	$2856
🏠 One person rent	$775	$538
🏘️ Family rent	$1348	$954
🍽️ Food expenses	$359	$331
🚐 Transport expenses	$139	$149
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$405	$843
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	55	96
😀 Quality of life	58	75
🏙️ Population	3.78M	11.5M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 23% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 4336th and 4918th ($1386 vs $1126) 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 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 6134th and 1670th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$12.2	$7.66
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.7	$42.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.19	$8.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.03	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$2.47	$2.69
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$1.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$942	$649
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$591	$405
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$1195
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$747
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.4	$64.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$97.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.7	$20.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.35%	11.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2325	$2685
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1508	$1939
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.33	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.4	$44.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11	$9.09
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.2	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$1.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.97	$2.77
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.53	$12.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.77	$5.23
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.45	$10.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$2.77
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.77	$2.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.22	$10.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.47	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.38	$2.85
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$6.72
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$3.63
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.41	$1.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.62	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$33.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.14	$9.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.2	$48.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.7	$60.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$272	$486
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6197	$15990

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	$1421
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$763
371 km or 231 mi	George	$877
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$968
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1020
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$796
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$863
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1033
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$904
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1390
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$773
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$611
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$660
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$953
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$811
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$991
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$872
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$903
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$945
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$691
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$691
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$742
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1031
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$994
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$723
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$663
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1204
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$912
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1040
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1104
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$938
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$998
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$893

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$821
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$759
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$783
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$765
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$700
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$793
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$713
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$664
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$737
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$713
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$761
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$886
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$716
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$715
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$737
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$752
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$717
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$753
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$720
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$848
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$746
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$699
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$747
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$713
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$722
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$752
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$733
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$723
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$706
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$721
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$710
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$794
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$776
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$673
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$728
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$687
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$901
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$700
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$716
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$720