Cape Town vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$1042
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2144	$2664
🏠 One person rent	$484	$480
🏘️ Family rent	$966	$881
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.2	$151
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1518	$460
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	55	95
😀 Quality of life	60	64
🏙️ Population	434K	12.4M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 15% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 6078th and 5031st ($881 vs $1042) 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 1.7 months in Cape Town compared to 0.4 months in Sao Paulo. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Sao Paulo ranked 2nd in Brazil, while ranked 5406th and 4799th 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	$7.47	$7.49
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.2	$42.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$7.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.04	$2.19
☕ Cappuccino	$1.94	$2.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$1.29
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$536	$560
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$353	$357
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1202	$1043
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$749	$696
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.2	$60.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$93.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.2	$22.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	10.78%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1890	$2704
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$1879
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.8	$50.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.17	$8.47
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$1.1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$1.08
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$1.63
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.39	$2.8
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.96	$10.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$4.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$8.88
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2.29
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.23
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.79
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.28
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.15
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.55
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$2.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.51	$9.65
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$1.44
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.62	$2.42
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$5.04
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.76	$3.81
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.22	$1.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$1.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$28.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.42	$7.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.9	$60.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.3	$12.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$57.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.4	$89.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$172	$464
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4013	$12031

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	$773
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$632
371 km or 231 mi	George	$684
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$805
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$866
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$643
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$704
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$703
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$753
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$710
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$683
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$511
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$535
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$689
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$682
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$765
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$701
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$719
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$738
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$631
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$633
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$637
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$875
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$845
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$656
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$603
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$908
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$776
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$807
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$889
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$780
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$751
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$718

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$768
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$695
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$733
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$744
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$680
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$690
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$766
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$600
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$711
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$668
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$661
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$669
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$674
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$669
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$695
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$645
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$682
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$663
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$680
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$651
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$699
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$652
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$652
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$675
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$680
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$662
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$670
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$677
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$687
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$700
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$678
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$761
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$763
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$662
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$657
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$558
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$813
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$649
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$678
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$659