Mexico City vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Mexico City	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1331	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3182	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$721	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$1296	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$410	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$93.3	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$892	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	92	95
😀 Quality of life	72	69
🏙️ Population	9.21M	11.5M

The cost of living in Mexico City is 27% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 4418th and 5192nd ($1331 vs $1052) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in Mexico and Brazil, respectively. Check Mexico vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Mexico City compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Mexico City ranked 1st best city to live in Mexico vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 3317th and 4142nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Mexico City vs Sao Paulo infographic

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

Prices in Mexico City vs Sao Paulo

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

	Mexico City	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$41.1	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.8	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.22	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$4.26	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.71	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$988	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$578	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1819	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1067	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.8	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$30	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.71%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3569	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2491	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.38	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.5	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.33	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.7	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.28	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.93	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.8	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.02	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.07	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.68	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.35	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.69	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.07	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.99	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.3	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.98	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$44.1	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.1	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.7	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.9	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$427	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11015	$15428

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Mexico City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7.1 mi	Naucalpan	$908
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tlalnepantla	$932
17 km or 10 mi	Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl	$898
19 km or 12 mi	Ciudad Lopez Mateos	$942
22 km or 14 mi	Ecatepec de Morelos	$777
25 km or 16 mi	Tultitlan de Mariano Escobedo	$869
25 km or 16 mi	Chicoloapan de Juarez	$962
26 km or 16 mi	Cuautitlan Izcalli	$818
29 km or 18 mi	Texcoco de Mora	$904
30 km or 19 mi	Tultepec	$851
31 km or 19 mi	Chalco de Diaz Covarrubias	$938
42 km or 26 mi	Zumpango	$868
55 km or 34 mi	Toluca	$926
56 km or 35 mi	Cuernavaca	$819
60 km or 37 mi	Jiutepec	$842
70 km or 44 mi	Cuautla	$977
89 km or 55 mi	Pachuca	$717
93 km or 58 mi	Atlixco	$914
105 km or 65 mi	San Jose Villa de Allende	$905
106 km or 66 mi	Puebla	$998
107 km or 67 mi	Taxco	$912
126 km or 79 mi	Iguala	$936
140 km or 87 mi	San Juan del Rio	$981
184 km or 114 mi	Queretaro	$1184
192 km or 119 mi	Teziutlan	$875
211 km or 131 mi	Chilpancingo	$724
213 km or 132 mi	Tehuacan	$860
214 km or 133 mi	Celaya	$764
216 km or 134 mi	Poza Rica	$858
217 km or 135 mi	Morelia	$873
224 km or 139 mi	Cortazar	$846
224 km or 139 mi	Orizaba	$875
225 km or 140 mi	Yuriria	$894
229 km or 143 mi	Coatepec	$784
234 km or 145 mi	Xalapa	$643
236 km or 146 mi	San Miguel de Allende	$1491
239 km or 149 mi	Cordoba	$893
250 km or 155 mi	Salamanca	$896
269 km or 167 mi	Irapuato	$860
281 km or 174 mi	Zacapu	$1030

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