Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Brazil

Sao Paulo vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Sao Paulo is 43.8% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 3.1 times more in Sao Paulo
Groceries: pay 21.5% more in Sao Paulo
Transportation: pay 56.5% more in Sao Paulo
Housing: pay 24.9% more in Sao Paulo
Childcare: pay 8.5% less in Sao Paulo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.0 times more in Sao Paulo
Clothing: pay 24.0% more in Sao Paulo

The cost of restaurants, entertainment and sports, transportation, housing, clothing, and groceries in Sao Paulo are more expensive than in Ho Chi Minh City. Notably, restaurants and entertainment and sports are significantly more expensive in Sao Paulo.

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Sao Paulo vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sao Paulo instead of Ho Chi Minh City, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 3.1 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Sao Paulo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,838	$8.96 R$44.68	+365.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$8.96 R$44.68	+94.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,907	$1.40 R$6.99	+160.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,591	$0.87 R$4.32	+161.4%
Average			+205.2%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.5% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Sao Paulo
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,847	$1.85 R$9.25	+72.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$6.20 R$30.95	+2.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$4.62 R$23.06	-24.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,014	$2.80 R$13.97	+72.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,575	$2.39 R$11.92	+45.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,266	$1.26 R$6.27	-7.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,955	$0.82 R$4.10	+42.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,718	$0.72 R$3.57	-0.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,920	$0.87 R$4.36	+51.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,106	$0.65 R$3.22	+18.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,664	$0.57 R$2.86	+8.7%
Average			+21.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of groceries

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pay 56.5% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Sao Paulo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,962	$4.91 R$24.47	+38.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$48.37 R$241.23	+318.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$23,890.58 R$119K	-22.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$9.76 R$48.65	+68.1%
Average			+56.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of transportation

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pay 24.9% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Sao Paulo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$22.16 R$110.51	+111.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$656.54 R$3,274.32	+12.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$419.66 R$2,092.93	+40.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$80.32 R$400.55	+1.4%
Average			+24.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of housing

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pay 8.5% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Sao Paulo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$530.90 R$2,647.74	+21.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$16,300.72 R$81,295.79	-30.8%
Average			-8.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.0 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Sao Paulo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,765	$2.99 R$14.89	+188.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,984	$2.56 R$12.75	+40.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,896	$2.99 R$14.89	+142.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$35.87 R$178.88	+38.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,709	$9.95 R$49.65	+187.4%
Average			+104.3%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Sao Paulo - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 24.0% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Sao Paulo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$65.57 R$327.02	+27.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$61.53 R$306.86	+77.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$99.31 R$495.29	+8.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$91.35 R$455.57	-3.5%
Average			+24.0%

Ho Chi Minh City 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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