Sao Paulo vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Sao Paulo	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1012	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2565	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$481	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$852	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$285	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$145	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$477	$1905
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	95	100
😀 Quality of life	63	79
🏙️ Population	11.5M	24.9M

The cost of living in Sao Paulo is 11% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5616th and 4780th ($1012 vs $1136) 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 0.5 months in Sao Paulo compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Sao Paulo ranked 2nd best city to live in Brazil vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 4573rd and 571st 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	$6.82	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.4	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.22	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.95	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$2.19	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.13	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$574	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$371	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1002	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$694	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$50.2	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$77.2	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$19.3	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.91%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2416	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1687	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.93	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$47.9	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.27	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.04	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.4	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.71	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.41	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.49	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.83	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.17	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.24	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.23	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.84	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.35	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.52	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.98	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.9	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.65	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$57.8	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$84.4	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$482	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13135	$31401

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	$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

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1028
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$706
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$749
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$738
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$585
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$661
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$718
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$620
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$676
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$706
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$685
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$612
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$733
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$674
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$742
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$702
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$729
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$674
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$843
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$676
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$690
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$629
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$698
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$630
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$673
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$698
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$650
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$651
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$703
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$708
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$699
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$702
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$771
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$648
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$774