Cost of living comparison

Brazil

compared to

Argentina

Buenos Aires vs. Rio De Janeiro Cost of Living Summary

Buenos Aires is 15.2% more expensive than Rio De Janeiro.

Restaurants: pay 65.9% more in Buenos Aires
Groceries: pay 16.9% more in Buenos Aires
Transportation: pay 6.0% less in Buenos Aires
Housing: pay 0.1% more in Buenos Aires
Childcare: pay 27.1% less in Buenos Aires
Entertainment and Sports: pay 52.8% more in Buenos Aires
Clothing: pay 2.1 times more in Buenos Aires

The cost of clothing, restaurants, entertainment and sports, groceries, and housing in Buenos Aires are more expensive than in Rio De Janeiro. Expenses including childcare and transportation are lower in Buenos Aires. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in Buenos Aires.

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Buenos Aires vs. Rio De Janeiro Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Buenos Aires instead of Rio De Janeiro, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 65.9% more for restaurants

	Rio De Janeiro	Buenos Aires
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.95 R$50.39	$19.02 ARS28,866.32	+91.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.46 R$42.84	$12.96 ARS19,665.62	+53.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.59 R$8.06	$2.01 ARS3,045.90	+26.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.04 R$5.26	$1.59 ARS2,416.05	+53.3%
Average			+65.9%

Rio De Janeiro vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of restaurants

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pay 16.9% more for groceries

	Rio De Janeiro	Buenos Aires
Bread 1 loaf	$2.08 R$10.53	$2.48 ARS3,759.89	+19.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.43 R$27.47	$5.25 ARS7,963.26	-3.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.35 R$22.04	$5.52 ARS8,376.92	+26.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.32 R$11.72	$2.81 ARS4,263.15	+21.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.00 R$10.15	$4.60 ARS6,980.53	+129.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.29 R$6.53	$1.28 ARS1,941.83	-0.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 R$4.09	$0.97 ARS1,476.48	+20.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.73 R$3.70	$0.65 ARS986.80	-11.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.83 R$4.20	$0.92 ARS1,393.13	+10.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.56 R$2.83	$0.56 ARS848.63	-0.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.48 R$2.40	$0.56 ARS844.64	+17.2%
Average			+16.9%

Rio De Janeiro vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of groceries

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pay 6.0% less for transportation

	Rio De Janeiro	Buenos Aires
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.98 R$25.19	$5.28 ARS8,007.28	+6.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$50.77 R$257.01	$27.50 ARS41,738.12	-45.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,669.59 R$120K	$28,500.00 ARS43M	+20.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$8.21 R$41.57	$9.60 ARS14,570.40	+16.9%
Average			-6.0%

Rio De Janeiro vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of transportation

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pay 0.1% more for housing

	Rio De Janeiro	Buenos Aires
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$22.76 R$115.23	$31.11 ARS47,219.03	+36.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$909.17 R$4,602.67	$770.79 ARS1M	-15.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$533.31 R$2,699.87	$509.75 ARS774K	-4.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$102.28 R$517.78	$162.43 ARS247K	+58.8%
Average			+0.1%

Rio De Janeiro vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of housing

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pay 27.1% less for childcare

	Rio De Janeiro	Buenos Aires
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$594.40 R$3,009.15	$464.87 ARS706K	-21.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,090.04 R$66,268.35	$8,896.36 ARS14M	-32.0%
Average			-27.1%

Rio De Janeiro vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of childcare

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pay 52.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Rio De Janeiro	Buenos Aires
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.39 R$12.09	$3.95 ARS6,000.47	+65.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.33 R$11.78	$3.86 ARS5,864.06	+66.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.96 R$14.99	$4.21 ARS6,386.17	+42.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$30.84 R$156.14	$49.97 ARS75,848.75	+62.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.96 R$40.32	$10.38 ARS15,757.84	+30.4%
Average			+52.8%

Rio De Janeiro vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.1 times more for clothing

	Rio De Janeiro	Buenos Aires
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$41.81 R$211.66	$120.49 ARS183K	+188.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$49.05 R$248.31	$95.69 ARS145K	+95.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$74.57 R$377.50	$115.94 ARS176K	+55.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$67.45 R$341.49	$138.37 ARS210K	+105.1%
Average			+105.8%

Rio De Janeiro vs. Buenos Aires - 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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Rio De Janeiro is about 6 times bigger than Buenos Aires.

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