Detroit vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Detroit	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2070	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5001	$2856
🏠 One person rent	$1144	$538
🏘️ Family rent	$1987	$954
🍽️ Food expenses	$655	$331
🚐 Transport expenses	$131	$149
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3437	$843
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	77	96
😀 Quality of life	87	75
🏙️ Population	639K	11.5M

The cost of living in Detroit is 84% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 1839th and 4918th ($2070 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1457th and 1st in the United States and Brazil, respectively. Check the United States vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Detroit compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Detroit ranked 98th best city to live in the United States vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 319th 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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Prices in Detroit vs Sao Paulo

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

	Detroit	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.9	$7.66
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$64.5	$42.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.9	$8.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.45	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$5.58	$2.69
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.99	$1.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1370	$649
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$840	$405
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2423	$1195
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1539	$747
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$64.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$204	$97.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$67.5	$20.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.91%	11.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1855	$2685
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1282	$1939
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86.3	$44.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.5	$9.09
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.97	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.51	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.61	$1.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.87	$2.77
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$12.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$5.23
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.6	$10.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.01	$2.77
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.65	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.89	$1.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$1.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.06	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$0.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.05	$2.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.7	$10.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.11	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.3	$2.85
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$13.9	$6.72
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.05	$3.63
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.51	$1.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.6	$33.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$9.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$88.7	$48.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.5	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.8	$60.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.7	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1375	$486
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16262	$15990

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Detroit

Distance	City	Cost of living
1.9 km or 1.2 mi	Windsor	$1927
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Hamtramck	$1951
14 km or 8.6 mi	Dearborn	$1984
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lincoln Park	$1926
16 km or 9.8 mi	Allen Park	$1976
16 km or 10 mi	Ferndale	$1928
17 km or 10 mi	Wyandotte	$1740
17 km or 11 mi	Eastpointe	$1837
18 km or 11 mi	Madison Heights	$1924
18 km or 11 mi	Warren	$1683
19 km or 12 mi	Oak Park	$1921
19 km or 12 mi	Southgate	$1895
19 km or 12 mi	Royal Oak	$1938
20 km or 12 mi	Dearborn Heights	$1943
21 km or 13 mi	Roseville	$1891
21 km or 13 mi	Taylor	$2031
21 km or 13 mi	Southfield	$1820
22 km or 14 mi	St. Clair Shores	$1888
22 km or 14 mi	Inkster	$1951
24 km or 15 mi	Garden	$1781
26 km or 16 mi	Amherstburg	$1881
27 km or 17 mi	Birmingham	$1994
28 km or 17 mi	Sterling Heights	$1730
28 km or 17 mi	Livonia	$1917
29 km or 18 mi	Troy	$2031
29 km or 18 mi	Westland	$1961
30 km or 19 mi	Clinton Township	$1883
31 km or 19 mi	Romulus	$2007
32 km or 20 mi	Farmington Hills	$2156
37 km or 23 mi	Rochester Hills	$1958
39 km or 24 mi	Novi	$2307
40 km or 25 mi	Pontiac	$1857
42 km or 26 mi	Auburn Hills	$1959
54 km or 34 mi	Monroe	$1702
58 km or 36 mi	Ann Arbor	$2324
71 km or 44 mi	Chatham-Kent	$1791
86 km or 54 mi	Toledo	$1622
88 km or 54 mi	Burton	$1665
88 km or 54 mi	Port Huron	$1961
89 km or 55 mi	Sarnia	$1600

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