Gaborone vs Sao Tome - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Gaborone	Sao Tome
🚶 Cost of living one person	$691	$900
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1793	$2253
🏠 One person rent	$268	$312
🏘️ Family rent	$520	$626
🍽️ Food expenses	$287	$464
🚐 Transport expenses	$66	$37.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$373	$252
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	39	1
😀 Quality of life	56	22
🏙️ Population	236K	65.5K

The cost of living in Gaborone is 23% less expensive than in Sao Tome. Cities ranked 6941st and 6047th ($691 vs $900) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Botswana and Sao Tome and Principe, respectively. Check Botswana vs Sao Tome and Principe comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Gaborone compared to 0.3 months in Sao Tome. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Sao Tome ranked 1st in Sao Tome and Principe, while ranked 5825th and 8798th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Gaborone vs Sao Tome infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/gaborone/sao-tome.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Gaborone vs Sao Tome infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/gaborone/sao-tome" target="_blank">Gaborone vs Sao Tome - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Gaborone vs Sao Tome

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

	Gaborone	Sao Tome
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.24	$18.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.1	$32.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.77	$8.94
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.19	$1.49
☕ Cappuccino	$2.19	$1.57
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.79	$1.72
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$223	$283
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$133	$187
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$537	$608
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$473
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.7	$40.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.4	$61.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.6	$65.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.07%	7.35%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1028	$1445
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$949	$123
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.51	$1.11
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.3	$48.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.9	$7.07
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.51
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$2.09
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.23	$4.54
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.31	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$13.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$22.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$3.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.06
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$3.7
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$3.13
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.84
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$1.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.34	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.11	$6.27
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.64	$1.18
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.65	$2.12
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$3.96
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.46	$3
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.52	$1.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.28
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34	$33.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.49	$19
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19	$17.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.58	$4.28
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.1	$31.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$76.6	$63.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$171	$126
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4190	$3685

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Gaborone

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Molepolole	$628
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$665
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$664
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$780
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$889
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$631
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$820
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$906
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$837
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$540
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$807
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$923
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$583
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$953
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$993
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$785
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$672
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$678
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$768
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$748
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$795
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$784
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$624
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$814
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$621
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$562
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$766
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$442
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$567
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$763
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$699
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$964
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$1068
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$597

Cities near Sao Tome

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.3 km or 5.1 mi	Trindade	$900
256 km or 159 mi	Port-Gentil	$625
303 km or 188 mi	Libreville	$668
375 km or 233 mi	Bata	$1121
443 km or 275 mi	Malabo	$741
492 km or 306 mi	Port Harcourt	$679
494 km or 307 mi	Limbe	$655
509 km or 316 mi	Buea	$601
529 km or 328 mi	Douala	$1265
537 km or 333 mi	Aba	$621
543 km or 337 mi	Calabar	$384
565 km or 351 mi	Kumba	$764
574 km or 356 mi	Owerri	$1611
584 km or 363 mi	Umuahia	$883
587 km or 365 mi	Warri	$881
649 km or 403 mi	Onitsha	$972
653 km or 406 mi	Awka	$805
660 km or 410 mi	Yaounde	$747
677 km or 421 mi	Benin	$558
684 km or 425 mi	Enugu	$462
702 km or 436 mi	Bafoussam	$555
730 km or 454 mi	Bamenda	$553
772 km or 480 mi	Owo	$651
774 km or 481 mi	Lagos	$1113
788 km or 490 mi	Akure	$634
806 km or 501 mi	Pointe-Noire	$569
822 km or 511 mi	Porto-Novo	$670
824 km or 512 mi	Cotonou	$709
827 km or 514 mi	Ado Ekiti	$666
829 km or 515 mi	Ife	$779
845 km or 525 mi	Ibadan	$776
846 km or 526 mi	Abeokuta	$1030
861 km or 535 mi	Osogbo	$695
884 km or 549 mi	Kayes	$523
889 km or 552 mi	Lome	$755
890 km or 553 mi	Oyo	$677
892 km or 555 mi	Cabinda	$676
907 km or 564 mi	Madingou	$519
924 km or 574 mi	Gamboma	$522
926 km or 575 mi	Abomey	$590