Sao Paulo vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Sao Paulo	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1042	$1190
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2664	$3757
🏠 One person rent	$480	$635
🏘️ Family rent	$881	$1613
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$308
🚐 Transport expenses	$151	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$460	$1455
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	95	100
😀 Quality of life	64	78
🏙️ Population	12.4M	24.9M

The cost of living in Sao Paulo is 12% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5031st and 4461st ($1042 vs $1190) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Brazil and China, respectively. Check Brazil vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Sao Paulo compared to 1.2 months in Shanghai. Sao Paulo ranked 2nd best city to live in Brazil vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 4799th and 558th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Sao Paulo vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Sao Paulo vs Shanghai

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

	Sao Paulo	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.49	$4.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$42.6	$40.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.4	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.19	$1.7
☕ Cappuccino	$2.21	$3.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.29	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$560	$901
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$357	$497
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1043	$2595
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$696	$1269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$60.6	$39.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.6	$60.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$22.2	$17.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.78%	4.77%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2704	$17366
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1879	$9346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$50.5	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.1	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$2.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.63	$2.02
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.47
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.8	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.34	$4.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$12.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.29	$2.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.55	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.01	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.65	$14.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.44	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.42	$3.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.04	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.81	$7.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.83	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.03	$2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.4	$69.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.79	$8.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$60.9	$89.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.7	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.3	$66.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89.7	$78.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$464	$1283
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12031	$28143

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$768
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$695
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$733
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$744
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$680
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$690
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$766
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$600
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$711
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$668
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$661
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$669
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$674
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$669
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$695
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$645
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$682
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$663
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$680
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$651
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$699
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$652
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$652
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$675
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$680
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$662
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$670
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$677
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$687
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$700
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$678
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$761
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$763
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$662
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$657
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$558
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$813
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$649
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$678
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$659

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1074
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$731
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$771
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$763
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$682
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$731
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$651
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$678
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$699
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$688
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$690
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$677
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$675
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$755
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$707
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$713
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$682
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$831
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$679
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$694
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$625
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$707
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$703
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$524
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$631
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$645
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$720
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$725
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$696
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$719
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$789
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$652
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$740