Lima vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lima	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1040	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2534	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$453	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$771	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$294	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$198	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$592	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	79	95
😀 Quality of life	71	69
🏙️ Population	9.94M	11.5M

The cost of living in Lima is 1% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 5274th and 5192nd ($1040 vs $1052) 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 3631st and 4142nd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Lima vs Sao Paulo infographic

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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	$4.56	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.3	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.18	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.45	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$3.09	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.06	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$599	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$336	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$972	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$615	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$38.8	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.7	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.07%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1901	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1809	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.73	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$38.7	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.1	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.45	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.09	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.07	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.55	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.86	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.12	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.59	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.4	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.85	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.65	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.66	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.94	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.65	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.1	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.9	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$12	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.4	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$196	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8454	$15428

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	$838
64 km or 40 mi	Huaral	$775
122 km or 76 mi	Huacho	$737
198 km or 123 mi	Huancayo	$604
205 km or 128 mi	Pisco	$676
251 km or 156 mi	Huanuco	$655
265 km or 165 mi	Ica	$732
285 km or 177 mi	Huaraz	$595
329 km or 204 mi	Ayacucho	$654
372 km or 231 mi	Chimbote	$531
483 km or 300 mi	Abancay	$655
489 km or 304 mi	Trujillo	$730
490 km or 304 mi	Pucallpa	$527
567 km or 352 mi	Cajamarca	$589
572 km or 355 mi	Cusco	$681
623 km or 387 mi	Tarapoto	$607
655 km or 407 mi	Chachapoyas	$598
663 km or 412 mi	Chiclayo	$667
685 km or 426 mi	Cruzeiro do Sul	$613
732 km or 455 mi	Jaen	$609
765 km or 475 mi	Arequipa	$624
838 km or 521 mi	Juliaca	$594
855 km or 531 mi	Puerto Maldonado	$609
858 km or 533 mi	Piura	$648
866 km or 538 mi	Puno	$563
891 km or 554 mi	Sullana	$596
896 km or 557 mi	Paita	$638
927 km or 576 mi	Loja	$601
952 km or 591 mi	Talara	$704
987 km or 614 mi	Mancora	$656
988 km or 614 mi	Tacna	$445
1014 km or 630 mi	Iquitos	$748
1014 km or 630 mi	Arica	$654
1015 km or 631 mi	Tumbes	$582
1029 km or 639 mi	Machala	$587
1032 km or 642 mi	Rio Branco	$763
1041 km or 647 mi	Cuenca	$780
1073 km or 666 mi	El Alto	$675
1077 km or 669 mi	La Paz	$681
1138 km or 707 mi	Milagro	$745

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