Porto Alegre vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Porto Alegre	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$816	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2027	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$353	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$595	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$260	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$112	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$500	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	74	95
😀 Quality of life	61	69
🏙️ Population	1.33M	11.5M

The cost of living in Porto Alegre is 22% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 6605th and 5192nd ($816 vs $1052) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 1st in Brazil.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Porto Alegre compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Ranked 14th vs 1st best cities to live in Brazil, and 5818th vs 4142nd among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Porto Alegre vs Sao Paulo infographic

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

Prices in Porto Alegre vs Sao Paulo

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

	Porto Alegre	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.79	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.3	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.15	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.18	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.24	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.16	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$295	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$281	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$545	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$489	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.8	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$21.1	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.83%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1364	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1446	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.9	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$57.6	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.55	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.09	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.89	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.21	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.16	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.78	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.4	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.97	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.82	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.87	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.95	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.37	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.87	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.53	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.84	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.5	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.05	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$53.1	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.14	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$45.5	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.4	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$309	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7258	$15428

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Porto Alegre

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Canoas	$660
16 km or 9.9 mi	Cachoeirinha	$575
21 km or 13 mi	Viamao	$676
41 km or 25 mi	Novo Hamburgo	$571
96 km or 60 mi	Caxias do Sul	$580
100 km or 62 mi	Bento Goncalves	$616
107 km or 67 mi	Camaqua	$637
121 km or 75 mi	Santa Cruz do Sul	$633
160 km or 100 mi	Cachoeira do Sul	$562
172 km or 107 mi	Vacaria	$661
208 km or 129 mi	Ararangua	$586
221 km or 137 mi	Pelotas	$531
228 km or 141 mi	Passo Fundo	$576
235 km or 146 mi	Criciuma	$557
238 km or 148 mi	Rio Grande	$551
246 km or 153 mi	Carazinho	$587
252 km or 156 mi	Santa Maria	$526
262 km or 163 mi	Lages	$666
277 km or 172 mi	Tubarao	$616
285 km or 177 mi	Erechim	$608
299 km or 186 mi	Sao Gabriel	$476
311 km or 193 mi	Bage	$487
318 km or 198 mi	Ijui	$563
321 km or 199 mi	Concordia	$621
352 km or 219 mi	Santo Angelo	$573
354 km or 220 mi	Chapeco	$659
363 km or 225 mi	Cacador	$625
376 km or 234 mi	Florianopolis	$904
382 km or 238 mi	Melo	$773
397 km or 247 mi	Brusque	$681
397 km or 247 mi	Santa Rosa	$582
406 km or 252 mi	Blumenau	$699
415 km or 258 mi	Itapema	$680
423 km or 263 mi	Balneario Camboriu	$693
423 km or 263 mi	Santana do Livramento	$537
425 km or 264 mi	Rivera	$816
429 km or 266 mi	Itajai	$716
446 km or 277 mi	Pato Branco	$626
448 km or 278 mi	Jaragua do Sul	$659
474 km or 295 mi	Obera	$444

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