Chennai vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chennai	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$437	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1065	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$159	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$272	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$164	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.2	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$321	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	78	95
😀 Quality of life	65	69
🏙️ Population	6.6M	11.5M

The cost of living in Chennai is 58% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 8898th and 5192nd ($437 vs $1052) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 1st in India and Brazil, respectively. Check India vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Chennai compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Chennai ranked 5th best city to live in India vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 5272nd and 4142nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chennai vs Sao Paulo infographic

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Prices in Chennai vs Sao Paulo

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

	Chennai	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.25	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.1	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.91	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.97	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.47	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$173	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$108	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$313	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$194	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$29.5	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.96	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.55%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1914	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$746	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.34	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.3	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.73	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.49	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.73	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$0.87	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.55	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.62	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.96	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.42	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.49	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.22	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.05	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.94	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.82	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$0.8	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.47	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.78	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$15.4	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.79	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31.9	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.7	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$25.8	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$50.4	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$70.8	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1729	$15428

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$327
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$235
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$291
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$327
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$535
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$300
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$327
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$368
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$367
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$334
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$295
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$275
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$524
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$304
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$341
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$347
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$345
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$286
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$355
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$290
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$307
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$277
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$347
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$339
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$345
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$310
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$346
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$298
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$347
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$326
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$383
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$266
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$301
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$265
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$353
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$291
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$266
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$295
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$286

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