Cost of living comparison

South Africa

compared to

Brazil

Sao Paulo vs. Cape Town Cost of Living Summary

Sao Paulo is 13.2% cheaper than Cape Town.

Restaurants: pay 0.2% more in Sao Paulo
Groceries: pay 2.2% more in Sao Paulo
Transportation: pay 22.9% less in Sao Paulo
Housing: pay 34.8% less in Sao Paulo
Childcare: pay 2.2 times more in Sao Paulo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 6.3% less in Sao Paulo
Clothing: pay 12.7% more in Sao Paulo

The cost of childcare, clothing, groceries, and restaurants in Sao Paulo are more expensive than in Cape Town. Expenses including housing, transportation, and entertainment and sports are lower in Sao Paulo. Notably, childcare is significantly more expensive in Sao Paulo.

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Sao Paulo vs. Cape Town Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sao Paulo instead of Cape Town, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 0.2% more for restaurants

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$12.02 ZAR198.22	$8.96 R$45.35	-25.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.01 ZAR99.11	$8.96 R$45.35	+49.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.30 ZAR21.44	$1.40 R$7.09	+7.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.99 ZAR16.37	$0.87 R$4.39	-12.7%
Average			+0.2%

Cape Town vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.2% more for groceries

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Bread 1 loaf	$1.23 ZAR20.34	$1.85 R$9.39	+50.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.39 ZAR72.41	$6.20 R$31.41	+41.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.99 ZAR82.36	$4.62 R$23.41	-7.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.14 ZAR51.78	$2.80 R$14.18	-10.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.07 ZAR50.65	$2.39 R$12.10	-22.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.85 ZAR13.99	$1.26 R$6.36	+48.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.87 ZAR14.35	$0.82 R$4.17	-5.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.77 ZAR12.72	$0.72 R$3.63	-7.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.95 ZAR15.70	$0.87 R$4.43	-8.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZAR11.51	$0.65 R$3.27	-7.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.68 ZAR11.29	$0.57 R$2.90	-16.2%
Average			+2.2%

Cape Town vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of groceries

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pay 22.9% less for transportation

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.86 ZAR96.61	$4.91 R$24.84	-16.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$60.09 ZAR991.09	$48.37 R$244.87	-19.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	$23,890.58 R$121K	-32.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.62 ZAR208.13	$9.76 R$49.39	-22.7%
Average			-22.9%

Cape Town vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of transportation

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pay 34.8% less for housing

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.98 ZAR659.39	$22.16 R$112.18	-44.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,017.49 ZAR16,782.53	$656.54 R$3,323.73	-35.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$706.64 ZAR11,655.27	$419.66 R$2,124.51	-40.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$88.53 ZAR1,460.27	$80.32 R$406.60	-9.3%
Average			-34.8%

Cape Town vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of housing

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pay 2.2 times more for childcare

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$262.39 ZAR4,327.78	$530.90 R$2,687.69	+102.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,820.14 ZAR112K	$16,300.72 R$82,522.42	+139.0%
Average			+119.9%

Cape Town vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of childcare

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pay 6.3% less for entertainment and sports

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.00 ZAR49.55	$2.99 R$15.12	-0.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.43 ZAR40.04	$2.56 R$12.94	+5.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.61 ZAR59.47	$2.99 R$15.12	-17.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.37 ZAR814.26	$35.87 R$181.58	-27.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.01 ZAR148.66	$9.95 R$50.39	+10.4%
Average			-6.3%

Cape Town vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 12.7% more for clothing

	Cape Town	Sao Paulo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$55.49 ZAR915.30	$65.57 R$331.96	+18.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$32.30 ZAR532.71	$61.53 R$311.49	+90.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$119.84 ZAR1,976.68	$99.31 R$502.77	-17.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.58 ZAR1,741.49	$91.35 R$462.44	-13.5%
Average			+12.7%

Cape Town vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of clothing

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

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Cape Town is about 1.6 times bigger than Sao Paulo.

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