Sao Paulo vs Tijuana - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Sao Paulo	Tijuana
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1126	$1276
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2856	$3034
🏠 One person rent	$538	$593
🏘️ Family rent	$954	$1048
🍽️ Food expenses	$331	$413
🚐 Transport expenses	$149	$161
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$843	$933
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	96	22
😀 Quality of life	75	62
🏙️ Population	11.5M	1.96M

The cost of living in Sao Paulo is 12% less expensive than in Tijuana. Cities ranked 4918th and 4582nd ($1126 vs $1276) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 11th in Brazil and Mexico, respectively. Check Brazil vs Mexico comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Sao Paulo compared to 0.7 months in Tijuana. Sao Paulo ranked 1st best city to live in Brazil vs Tijuana ranked 7th in Mexico, while ranked 1670th and 5555th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Sao Paulo vs Tijuana

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

	Sao Paulo	Tijuana
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.66	$11.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$42.5	$32
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.1	$10.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.48	$3.35
☕ Cappuccino	$2.69	$4.44
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.34	$1.47
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$649	$814
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1195	$1501
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$747	$837
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.6	$30.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97.4	$47.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$20.2	$31.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.72%	12.15%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2685	$3301
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1939	$2878
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.99	$1.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$44.4	$32.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.09	$21.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.21	$1.52
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.14	$2.03
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.56	$3.03
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$1.83
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.77	$3.3
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.23	$9.39
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.7	$12.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.77	$2.78
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.96
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.6
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.87
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.27	$2.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.8	$8.65
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.43	$2.37
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.85	$4.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.72	$6.99
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.63	$4.29
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.51	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$2.76
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.9	$43.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.22	$7.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$48.1	$47.5
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.8	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$102	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$486	$220
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15990	$4868

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	$821
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$759
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$783
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$765
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$700
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$793
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$713
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$664
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$737
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$713
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$761
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$886
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$716
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$715
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$737
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$752
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$717
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$753
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$720
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$848
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$746
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$699
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$747
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$713
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$722
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$752
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$733
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$723
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$706
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$721
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$710
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$794
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$776
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$673
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$728
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$687
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$901
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$700
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$716
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$720

Cities near Tijuana

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.5 mi	Imperial Beach	$2984
11 km or 6.9 mi	Chula Vista	$3033
15 km or 9.5 mi	Las Delicias	$1126
18 km or 11 mi	National	$3094
21 km or 13 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1108
22 km or 14 mi	Coronado	$3269
23 km or 15 mi	Lemon Grove	$3023
24 km or 15 mi	San Diego	$3486
27 km or 17 mi	La Mesa	$2997
30 km or 19 mi	El Cajon	$3077
38 km or 24 mi	Santee	$2956
42 km or 26 mi	La Jolla	$3065
48 km or 30 mi	Poway	$3012
62 km or 38 mi	Encinitas	$3265
66 km or 41 mi	Escondido	$3274
69 km or 43 mi	San Marcos	$3008
76 km or 47 mi	Carlsbad	$3269
77 km or 48 mi	Vista	$3011
81 km or 50 mi	Oceanside	$3221
84 km or 52 mi	Ensenada	$967
96 km or 59 mi	Fallbrook	$2984
109 km or 67 mi	Temecula	$2690
115 km or 72 mi	San Clemente	$2994
117 km or 73 mi	Murrieta	$3137
119 km or 74 mi	French Valley	$2799
121 km or 75 mi	Wildomar	$2850
122 km or 76 mi	Dana Point	$3051
123 km or 77 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3075
128 km or 80 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3492
128 km or 80 mi	Menifee	$2646
131 km or 82 mi	Laguna Beach	$3129
131 km or 82 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2663
134 km or 83 mi	Mission Viejo	$3520
135 km or 84 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2984
135 km or 84 mi	Laguna Hills	$3064
135 km or 84 mi	Hemet	$2768
138 km or 86 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3503
138 km or 86 mi	Lake Forest	$2598
139 km or 87 mi	El Centro	$2801
140 km or 87 mi	San Jacinto	$2677