Cost of living comparison

compared to

Santiago vs. Apia Cost of Living Summary

Santiago is 57.4% more expensive than Apia.

Restaurants
pay 58.7% less in Santiago
Groceries
pay 5.0% more in Santiago
Transportation
pay 14.9% less in Santiago
Housing
pay 4.1 times more in Santiago
Entertainment and Sports
pay 8.2% more in Santiago

The cost of housing, entertainment and sports, and groceries in Santiago are more expensive than in Apia. Expenses including restaurants and transportation are lower in Santiago. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Santiago.

Santiago vs. Apia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Santiago instead of Apia, you would:

pay 58.7% less for restaurants

 
Apia
Santiago
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $47.26
WST130.00
$10.23
CLF0.2500
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$14.54
WST40.00
$8.70
CLF0.2200
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $1.82
WST5.00
$1.71
CLF0.0400

Improve prices ·

pay 5.0% more for groceries

 
Apia
Santiago
Bread
1 loaf
$0.82
WST2.25
$1.81
CLF0.0500
Local cheese (8 oz) $0.45
WST1.25
$5.64
CLF0.1400
Milk (1 gallon) $6.88
WST18.93
$4.81
CLF0.1200

Improve prices ·

pay 14.9% less for transportation

 
Apia
Santiago
Gasoline (1 gallon) $4.13
WST11.36
$5.77
CLF0.1400
Monthly public transit pass ?? $40.93
CLF1.0200
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) ?? $17,743.12
CLF440.7600

Improve prices ·

pay 4.1 times more for housing

 
Apia
Santiago
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$36.35
WST100.00
$19.07
CLF0.4700
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area ?? $552.81
CLF13.7300
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center ?? $376.90
CLF9.3600

Improve prices ·

pay (unknown) more for childcare

 
Apia
Santiago
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly ?? $432.52
CLF10.7400
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters ?? $10,959.69
CLF272.2500

Improve prices ·

pay 8.2% more for entertainment and sports

 
Apia
Santiago
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $3.45
WST9.50
$4.09
CLF0.1000
Cappuccino in mid-range area $2.91
WST8.00
$3.25
CLF0.0800
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$6.18
WST17.00
$5.22
CLF0.1300

Improve prices ·

pay (unknown) more for clothing

 
Apia
Santiago
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
?? $50.25
CLF1.2500
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
?? $28.71
CLF0.7100
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
?? $66.29
CLF1.6500

Improve prices ·

We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated November 2026). How we calculate this

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Samoa vs. Chile. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Samoa and Chile.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Ask the Elsewhere Community

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Santiago or Apia. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.