Cost of living comparison

Sierra Leone

compared to

Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome vs. Freetown Cost of Living Summary

Sao Tome is 21.3% cheaper than Freetown.

Restaurants: pay 81.7% more in Sao Tome
Groceries: pay 37.3% more in Sao Tome
Transportation: pay 85.8% more in Sao Tome
Housing: pay 63.5% less in Sao Tome
Entertainment and Sports: pay 22.0% less in Sao Tome
Clothing: pay 63.3% less in Sao Tome

The cost of transportation, restaurants, and groceries in Sao Tome are more expensive than in Freetown. Expenses including housing, clothing, and entertainment and sports are lower in Sao Tome. Notably, transportation and restaurants are significantly more expensive in Sao Tome.

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Sao Tome vs. Freetown Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sao Tome instead of Freetown, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 81.7% more for restaurants

	Freetown	Sao Tome
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.00 SLL41,939	$8.96 STD200K	+347.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.00 SLL231K	$7.89 STD176K	-28.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.83 SLL38,444	$1.84 STD41,004	+0.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.85 SLL17,805	$1.25 STD27,770	+46.8%
Average			+81.7%

Freetown vs. Sao Tome - Cost of restaurants

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pay 37.3% more for groceries

	Freetown	Sao Tome
Bread 1 loaf	$0.66 SLL13,755	$1.00 STD22,187	+51.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.54 SLL74,319	$9.80 STD218K	+176.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$9.15 SLL192K	$5.87 STD131K	-35.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.81 SLL38,023	$4.85 STD108K	+167.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.54 SLL95,116	$8.89 STD198K	+96.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.18 SLL66,581	$1.70 STD37,881	-46.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.36 SLL28,535	$0.79 STD17,644	-41.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.32 SLL6,742	$1.63 STD36,419	+408.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.27 SLL47,558	$1.57 STD34,958	-30.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.91 SLL19,023	$1.31 STD29,299	+44.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SLL15,488	$1.08 STD23,986	+45.7%
Average			+37.3%

Freetown vs. Sao Tome - Cost of groceries

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pay 85.8% more for transportation

	Freetown	Sao Tome
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.02 SLL105K	$6.46 STD144K	+28.7%
Monthly public transit pass	??	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$12,000.00 SLL252M	$24,634.18 STD549M	+105.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$4.50 SLL94,363	$22.43 STD500K	+398.5%
Average			+85.8%

Freetown vs. Sao Tome - Cost of transportation

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pay 63.5% less for housing

	Freetown	Sao Tome
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$55.00 SLL1M	$66.91 STD1M	+21.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$928.33 SLL19M	$284.91 STD6M	-69.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,261.67 SLL26M	$195.02 STD4M	-84.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$45.88 SLL962K	$174.83 STD4M	+281.0%
Average			-63.5%

Freetown vs. Sao Tome - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

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

Freetown vs. Sao Tome - Cost of childcare

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pay 22.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Freetown	Sao Tome
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.25 SLL47,181	$1.70 STD37,799	-24.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.76 SLL57,878	$2.26 STD50,442	-18.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.00 SLL62,908	$2.26 STD50,420	-24.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$33.92 STD756K
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$20.16 STD449K
Average			-22.0%

Freetown vs. Sao Tome - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 63.3% less for clothing

	Freetown	Sao Tome
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$10.00 SLL210K	??
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$75.02 STD2M
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$20.00 SLL419K	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	$50.00 SLL1M	$18.36 STD409K	-63.3%
Average			-63.3%

Freetown vs. Sao Tome - 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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