Sao Tome vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Sao Tome	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$900	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2253	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$312	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$626	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$464	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$37.2	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$252	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	1	100
😀 Quality of life	22	78
🏙️ Population	65.5K	24.9M

The cost of living in Sao Tome is 18% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 6047th and 4858th ($900 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 6th in Sao Tome and Principe and China, respectively. Check Sao Tome and Principe vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Sao Tome compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Sao Tome ranked 1st best city to live in Sao Tome and Principe vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 8798th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Sao Tome vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Sao Tome vs Shanghai

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

	Sao Tome	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.3	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.7	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.94	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$1.57	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.72	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$283	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$187	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$608	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$473	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.2	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$61.1	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.5	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.35%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1445	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$123	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.11	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$48.1	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.07	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.51	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.93	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.54	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$22.6	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.13	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.25	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.27	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.18	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.12	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.96	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.53	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.28	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.5	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$19	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.7	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.28	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$31.9	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$63.8	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$126	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3685	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Sao Tome

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.3 km or 5.1 mi	Trindade	$900
256 km or 159 mi	Port-Gentil	$625
303 km or 188 mi	Libreville	$668
375 km or 233 mi	Bata	$1121
443 km or 275 mi	Malabo	$741
492 km or 306 mi	Port Harcourt	$679
494 km or 307 mi	Limbe	$655
509 km or 316 mi	Buea	$601
529 km or 328 mi	Douala	$1265
537 km or 333 mi	Aba	$621
543 km or 337 mi	Calabar	$384
565 km or 351 mi	Kumba	$764
574 km or 356 mi	Owerri	$1611
584 km or 363 mi	Umuahia	$883
587 km or 365 mi	Warri	$881
649 km or 403 mi	Onitsha	$972
653 km or 406 mi	Awka	$805
660 km or 410 mi	Yaounde	$747
677 km or 421 mi	Benin	$558
684 km or 425 mi	Enugu	$462
702 km or 436 mi	Bafoussam	$555
730 km or 454 mi	Bamenda	$553
772 km or 480 mi	Owo	$651
774 km or 481 mi	Lagos	$1113
788 km or 490 mi	Akure	$634
806 km or 501 mi	Pointe-Noire	$569
822 km or 511 mi	Porto-Novo	$670
824 km or 512 mi	Cotonou	$709
827 km or 514 mi	Ado Ekiti	$666
829 km or 515 mi	Ife	$779
845 km or 525 mi	Ibadan	$776
846 km or 526 mi	Abeokuta	$1030
861 km or 535 mi	Osogbo	$695
884 km or 549 mi	Kayes	$523
889 km or 552 mi	Lome	$755
890 km or 553 mi	Oyo	$677
892 km or 555 mi	Cabinda	$676
907 km or 564 mi	Madingou	$519
924 km or 574 mi	Gamboma	$522
926 km or 575 mi	Abomey	$590

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$984
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$665
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$700
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$868
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$573
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$631
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$645
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$602
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$670
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$670
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$657
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$590
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$708
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$643
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$716
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$695
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$702
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$644
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$805
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$643
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$654
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$603
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$650
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$607
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$665
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$620
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$621
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$642
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$677
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$665
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$592
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$672
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$621
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$746