Houston vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Houston	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2261	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5455	$2856
🏠 One person rent	$1267	$538
🏘️ Family rent	$2011	$954
🍽️ Food expenses	$622	$331
🚐 Transport expenses	$191	$149
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4659	$843
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	100	96
😀 Quality of life	96	75
🏙️ Population	2.3M	11.5M

The cost of living in Houston is 101% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 1367th and 4918th ($2261 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1144th 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 2.1 months in Houston compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Houston ranked 1st best city to live in the United States vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 14th 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 Houston vs Sao Paulo

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

	Houston	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$20.7	$7.66
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.3	$42.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.99	$8.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.03	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$5.49	$2.69
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.69	$1.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1416	$649
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$994	$405
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2413	$1195
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1595	$747
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$117	$64.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$180	$97.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71.6	$20.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.18%	11.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2519	$2685
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1831	$1939
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.26	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$74.4	$44.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.6	$9.09
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.37	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.08	$1.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.25	$2.77
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$12.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$5.23
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.4	$10.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.99	$2.77
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.35	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.64	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.7	$0.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.91	$2.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.4	$10.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.79	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10	$2.85
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.3	$6.72
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.05	$3.63
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.87	$1.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.19	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.4	$33.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.9	$9.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$148	$48.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.2	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$60.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1987	$486
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22291	$15990

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Houston

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Pasadena	$2142
25 km or 15 mi	Pearland	$2064
25 km or 16 mi	Missouri	$2093
27 km or 17 mi	Deer Park	$2126
29 km or 18 mi	Sugar Land	$2011
32 km or 20 mi	Spring	$2107
33 km or 21 mi	Friendswood	$2025
35 km or 22 mi	La Porte	$2124
40 km or 25 mi	Baytown	$2190
41 km or 25 mi	League	$1990
42 km or 26 mi	Alvin	$1916
47 km or 29 mi	Rosenberg	$2096
48 km or 30 mi	The Woodlands	$2754
59 km or 37 mi	Texas City	$2011
62 km or 38 mi	Conroe	$1860
76 km or 47 mi	Galveston	$1893
81 km or 50 mi	Lake Jackson	$2033
108 km or 67 mi	Huntsville	$1900
126 km or 78 mi	Beaumont	$1621
129 km or 80 mi	College Station	$1843
138 km or 86 mi	Bryan	$1950
140 km or 87 mi	Port Arthur	$1895
186 km or 115 mi	Lufkin	$1872
188 km or 117 mi	Victoria	$2003
203 km or 126 mi	Sulphur	$1977
215 km or 134 mi	Lake Charles	$1917
217 km or 135 mi	Nacogdoches	$1516
229 km or 142 mi	Pflugerville	$2141
234 km or 145 mi	Austin	$2475
236 km or 146 mi	Round Rock	$2058
239 km or 149 mi	Temple	$2070
242 km or 150 mi	Kyle	$2168
242 km or 150 mi	Georgetown	$2110
247 km or 153 mi	San Marcos	$2125
249 km or 155 mi	Cedar Park	$2151
250 km or 156 mi	Seguin	$2120
254 km or 158 mi	Leander	$2149
261 km or 162 mi	Waco	$2066
262 km or 163 mi	Harker Heights	$1937
264 km or 164 mi	New Braunfels	$2123

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