Lima vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Lima	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1034	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2503	$2856
🏠 One person rent	$466	$538
🏘️ Family rent	$771	$954
🍽️ Food expenses	$297	$331
🚐 Transport expenses	$183	$149
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$632	$843
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	77	96
😀 Quality of life	71	75
🏙️ Population	9.94M	11.5M

The cost of living in Lima is 8% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 5300th and 4918th ($1034 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Peru and Brazil, respectively. Check Peru vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Lima compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Lima ranked 1st best city to live in Peru vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 3484th 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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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/lima/sao-paulo.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Lima vs Sao Paulo infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/lima/sao-paulo" target="_blank">Lima vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Lima vs Sao Paulo

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

	Lima	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.53	$7.66
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.4	$42.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.88	$8.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.86	$2.48
☕ Cappuccino	$3.36	$2.69
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.06	$1.34
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$660	$649
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$336	$405
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1102	$1195
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$580	$747
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39.3	$64.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$60.6	$97.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.2	$20.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.87%	11.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2328	$2685
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1422	$1939
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.69	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.9	$44.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.7	$9.09
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.44	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.04	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.92	$2.77
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.76	$12.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.62	$5.23
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$10.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$2.77
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$1.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.93	$1.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.86	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.45	$2.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.3	$10.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.44	$2.85
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.6	$6.72
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.04	$3.63
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.87	$1.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$33.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.46	$9.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$48.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$49.2	$60.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$83.5	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$184	$486
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11057	$15990

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Lima

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Callao	$820
64 km or 40 mi	Huaral	$771
122 km or 76 mi	Huacho	$730
198 km or 123 mi	Huancayo	$598
205 km or 128 mi	Pisco	$571
251 km or 156 mi	Huanuco	$641
265 km or 165 mi	Ica	$725
285 km or 177 mi	Huaraz	$604
329 km or 204 mi	Ayacucho	$621
372 km or 231 mi	Chimbote	$527
483 km or 300 mi	Abancay	$612
489 km or 304 mi	Trujillo	$811
490 km or 304 mi	Pucallpa	$524
567 km or 352 mi	Cajamarca	$583
572 km or 355 mi	Cusco	$631
623 km or 387 mi	Tarapoto	$626
655 km or 407 mi	Chachapoyas	$611
663 km or 412 mi	Chiclayo	$667
685 km or 426 mi	Cruzeiro do Sul	$670
732 km or 455 mi	Jaen	$617
765 km or 475 mi	Arequipa	$670
838 km or 521 mi	Juliaca	$589
855 km or 531 mi	Puerto Maldonado	$589
858 km or 533 mi	Piura	$651
866 km or 538 mi	Puno	$558
891 km or 554 mi	Sullana	$593
896 km or 557 mi	Paita	$638
927 km or 576 mi	Loja	$559
952 km or 591 mi	Talara	$705
987 km or 614 mi	Mancora	$660
988 km or 614 mi	Tacna	$459
1014 km or 630 mi	Iquitos	$745
1014 km or 630 mi	Arica	$686
1015 km or 631 mi	Tumbes	$577
1029 km or 639 mi	Machala	$584
1032 km or 642 mi	Rio Branco	$815
1041 km or 647 mi	Cuenca	$829
1073 km or 666 mi	El Alto	$691
1077 km or 669 mi	La Paz	$694
1138 km or 707 mi	Milagro	$731

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