Sao Tome vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Sao Tome	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$900	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2253	$2694
🏠 One person rent	$312	$478
🏘️ Family rent	$626	$1142
🍽️ Food expenses	$464	$261
🚐 Transport expenses	$37.2	$85.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$252	$1771
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	1	96
😀 Quality of life	22	80
🏙️ Population	65.5K	17.7M

The cost of living in Sao Tome is 2% less expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 6047th and 5950th ($900 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 12th 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 1.9 months in Shenzhen. Sao Tome ranked 1st best city to live in Sao Tome and Principe vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 8798th and 545th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Sao Tome vs Shenzhen infographic

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Prices in Sao Tome vs Shenzhen

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

	Sao Tome	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.3	$3.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.7	$27.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.94	$5.23
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$1.57	$3.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.72	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$283	$667
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$187	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$608	$1650
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$473	$917
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.2	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$61.1	$65.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.5	$13.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.35%	4.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1445	$12583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$123	$6551
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.11	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$48.1	$23.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.07	$4.51
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.51	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.93	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.54	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$4.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$22.6	$13.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.13	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.25	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.27	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.18	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.12	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.96	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.53	$1.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.28	$1.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.5	$48.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$19	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.7	$33.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.28	$9.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$31.9	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$63.8	$78
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$126	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3685	$22267

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	$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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2432
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$653
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$656
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1588
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$461
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$601
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$804
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$774
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$611
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$936
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$812
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$764
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$794
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$823
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$877
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$569
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$443
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$581
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$655
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$451
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$803
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$755
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$758
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$761
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$756
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$761
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$724
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$771
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$649
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$702
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$688
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$650
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$823
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$522
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$609