Medellin vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Medellin	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$873	$1012
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2221	$2565
🏠 One person rent	$395	$481
🏘️ Family rent	$782	$852
🍽️ Food expenses	$264	$285
🚐 Transport expenses	$130	$145
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$417	$477
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	67	95
😀 Quality of life	53	63
🏙️ Population	2.53M	11.5M

The cost of living in Medellin is 14% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 6207th and 5616th ($873 vs $1012) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Colombia and Brazil, respectively. Check Colombia vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medellin compared to 0.5 months in Sao Paulo. Medellin ranked 2nd best city to live in Colombia vs Sao Paulo ranked 2nd in Brazil, while ranked 6039th and 4573rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Medellin vs Sao Paulo infographic

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Prices in Medellin vs Sao Paulo

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

	Medellin	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.77	$6.82
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24	$38.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.82	$7.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.83	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$1.96	$2.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.98	$1.13
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$436	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$300	$371
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$864	$1002
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$646	$694
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$45.7	$50.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$70.3	$77.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$21.7	$19.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	15.54%	10.91%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1473	$2416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1403	$1687
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.72	$0.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$43	$47.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$12.7	$8.27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.98	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.28	$1.4
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.21	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$4.11
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$7.71
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$2.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$1.86
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.36
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.74
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$1.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.59	$1.83
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.7	$8.17
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.05	$1.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.18	$2.23
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.27	$4.84
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.2	$3.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.89	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.22	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$27	$24.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.13	$7.65
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.3	$57.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.07	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.2	$51.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.7	$84.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$239	$482
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6129	$13135

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Medellin

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Envigado	$871
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Bello	$789
131 km or 82 mi	Manizales	$653
135 km or 84 mi	Quibdo	$661
160 km or 99 mi	Pereira	$641
171 km or 106 mi	Cartago	$619
179 km or 111 mi	Salento	$562
190 km or 118 mi	Armenia	$541
205 km or 127 mi	Ibague	$501
209 km or 130 mi	Facatativa	$641
212 km or 131 mi	Barrancabermeja	$573
221 km or 137 mi	Zipaquira	$681
232 km or 144 mi	Girardot	$483
239 km or 148 mi	Soacha	$748
242 km or 150 mi	Turbo	$634
246 km or 153 mi	Bogota	$868
250 km or 155 mi	Tulua	$477
257 km or 160 mi	Tunja	$526
282 km or 175 mi	Monteria	$620
285 km or 177 mi	Duitama	$851
288 km or 179 mi	Bucaramanga	$642
289 km or 179 mi	Floridablanca	$584
298 km or 185 mi	Sogamoso	$523
308 km or 192 mi	Buenaventura	$718
312 km or 194 mi	Palmira	$652
318 km or 198 mi	Villavicencio	$475
329 km or 204 mi	Cali	$733
331 km or 206 mi	Ocana	$590
334 km or 208 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$638
340 km or 211 mi	Sincelejo	$506
346 km or 215 mi	Magangue	$582
367 km or 228 mi	Yopal	$687
370 km or 230 mi	Neiva	$520
386 km or 240 mi	Cucuta	$552
387 km or 241 mi	San Antonio del Tachira	$601
391 km or 243 mi	Rubio	$598
406 km or 252 mi	San Cristobal	$592
410 km or 255 mi	Tariba	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Popayan	$462
448 km or 279 mi	La Grita	$617

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$716
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$665
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$691
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$674
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$644
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$686
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$657
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$573
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$663
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$640
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$627
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$738
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$640
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$639
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$643
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$640
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$639
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$631
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$633
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$621
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$656
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$606
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$647
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$645
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$641
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$679
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$636
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$639
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$661
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$674
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$640
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$698
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$742
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$595
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$630
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$653
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$746
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$650
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$638
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$629