Cost of living comparison

Cook Islands

compared to

Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Cook Islands Cost of Living Summary

Sao Tome and Principe is 22.1% cheaper than Cook Islands overall.

Restaurants: pay 14.8% less in Sao Tome and Principe
Groceries: pay 19.3% less in Sao Tome and Principe
Transportation: pay 44.7% more in Sao Tome and Principe
Housing: pay 33.5% less in Sao Tome and Principe
Entertainment and Sports: pay 59.9% less in Sao Tome and Principe

Expenses including entertainment and sports, housing, groceries, and restaurants are lower in Sao Tome and Principe.

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Sao Tome and Principe vs. Cook Islands Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sao Tome and Principe instead of Cook Islands, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 14.8% less for restaurants

	Cook Islands	Sao Tome and Principe
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.01 NZ$24.77	$8.96 STD200K	-36.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.60 NZ$9.91	$7.89 STD176K	+40.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.24 NZ$3.96	$1.84 STD41,004	-17.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.24 NZ$3.96	$1.25 STD27,770	-44.4%
Average			-14.8%

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe - Cost of restaurants

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pay 19.3% less for groceries

	Cook Islands	Sao Tome and Principe
Bread 1 loaf	$2.80 NZ$4.95	$1.00 STD22,187	-64.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.64 NZ$6.44	$9.80 STD218K	+169.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$10.60 NZ$18.75	$5.87 STD131K	-44.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.05 NZ$10.70	$4.85 STD108K	-19.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	??	$8.89 STD198K
Apples (1 lb)	??	$1.70 STD37,881
Bananas (1 lb)	??	$0.79 STD17,644
Oranges (1 lb)	??	$1.63 STD36,419
Tomatoes (1 lb)	??	$1.57 STD34,958
Potatoes (1 lb)	??	$1.31 STD29,299
Onions (1 lb)	??	$1.08 STD23,986
Average			-19.3%

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe - Cost of groceries

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pay 44.7% more for transportation

	Cook Islands	Sao Tome and Principe
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.38 NZ$11.29	$6.46 STD144K	+1.1%
Monthly public transit pass	??	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$11,204.09 NZ$19,812.72	$24,634.18 STD549M	+119.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$22.43 STD500K
Average			+44.7%

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe - Cost of transportation

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pay 33.5% less for housing

	Cook Islands	Sao Tome and Principe
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$102.89 NZ$181.95	$66.91 STD1M	-35.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$448.16 NZ$792.51	$284.91 STD6M	-36.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$448.16 NZ$792.51	$195.02 STD4M	-56.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$74.97 NZ$132.57	$174.83 STD4M	+133.2%
Average			-33.5%

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Cook Islands	Sao Tome and Principe
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$228.62 STD5M
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$2,194.77 STD49M

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe - Cost of childcare

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pay 59.9% less for entertainment and sports

	Cook Islands	Sao Tome and Principe
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.04 NZ$8.92	$1.70 STD37,799	-66.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.36 NZ$5.94	$2.26 STD50,442	-32.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$11.20 NZ$19.81	$2.26 STD50,420	-79.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$33.92 STD756K
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$20.16 STD449K
Average			-59.9%

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Cook Islands	Sao Tome and Principe
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	??
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$75.02 STD2M
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$18.36 STD409K

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe - 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

Compare further: Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe

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Quality of Life Comparison · 10 statistics

Live 7.2 years less in Sao Tome and Principe

Size Comparison · See true size

Cook Islands is about 4.1 times smaller than Sao Tome and Principe.

Moving from Cook Islands to Sao Tome and Principe · Cost, visas & climate

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