Sao Tome vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Sao Tome	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1046	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2477	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$343	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$551	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$571	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$38.8	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$218	$931
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	1	100
😀 Quality of life	28	77
🏙️ Population	65.5K	24.9M

The cost of living in Sao Tome is 7% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5224th and 4879th ($1046 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th 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 0.2 months in Sao Tome compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Sao Tome ranked 1st best city to live in Sao Tome and Principe vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 8852nd and 1383rd 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	$29.1	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.4	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.5	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.67	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$2.31	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.93	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$315	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$209	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$581	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$375	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.7	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.8	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71.6	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.41%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1452	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$943	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.23	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$47.9	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.43	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.06	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.32	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.03	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$25.2	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.63	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.16	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.5	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.59	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.02	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.31	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.26	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.31	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.08	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.08	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.54	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.29	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.1	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$21	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20.3	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.09	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$33.6	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$68	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$130	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4068	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Sao Tome

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.3 km or 5.1 mi	Trindade	$1044
256 km or 159 mi	Port-Gentil	$660
303 km or 188 mi	Libreville	$708
375 km or 233 mi	Bata	$1241
443 km or 275 mi	Malabo	$1413
492 km or 306 mi	Port Harcourt	$676
494 km or 307 mi	Limbe	$755
509 km or 316 mi	Buea	$665
529 km or 328 mi	Douala	$1363
537 km or 333 mi	Aba	$674
543 km or 337 mi	Calabar	$397
565 km or 351 mi	Kumba	$849
574 km or 356 mi	Owerri	$1774
584 km or 363 mi	Umuahia	$961
587 km or 365 mi	Warri	$926
649 km or 403 mi	Onitsha	$1051
653 km or 406 mi	Awka	$878
660 km or 410 mi	Yaounde	$671
677 km or 421 mi	Benin	$632
684 km or 425 mi	Enugu	$563
702 km or 436 mi	Bafoussam	$793
730 km or 454 mi	Bamenda	$698
772 km or 480 mi	Owo	$664
774 km or 481 mi	Lagos	$1102
788 km or 490 mi	Akure	$644
806 km or 501 mi	Pointe-Noire	$585
822 km or 511 mi	Porto-Novo	$743
824 km or 512 mi	Cotonou	$793
827 km or 514 mi	Ado Ekiti	$642
829 km or 515 mi	Ife	$778
845 km or 525 mi	Ibadan	$752
846 km or 526 mi	Abeokuta	$1013
861 km or 535 mi	Osogbo	$705
884 km or 549 mi	Kayes	$536
889 km or 552 mi	Lome	$835
890 km or 553 mi	Oyo	$664
892 km or 555 mi	Cabinda	$706
907 km or 564 mi	Madingou	$536
924 km or 574 mi	Gamboma	$536
926 km or 575 mi	Abomey	$598

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753