Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Barbados

Barbados vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

Barbados is 85.3% more expensive than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 79.8% more in Barbados
Groceries: pay 37.1% more in Barbados
Transportation: pay 43.8% more in Barbados
Housing: pay 2.8 times more in Barbados
Entertainment and Sports: pay 52.0% more in Barbados
Clothing: pay 25.9% more in Barbados

The cost of housing, restaurants, entertainment and sports, transportation, groceries, and clothing in Barbados are more expensive than in Sao Tome and Principe. Notably, housing and restaurants are significantly more expensive in Barbados.

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Barbados vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 79.8% more for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	Barbados
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$22.50 BBD45.00	+151.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$11.25 BBD22.50	+42.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$2.28 BBD4.57	+24.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$1.62 BBD3.25	+30.4%
Average			+79.8%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados - Cost of restaurants

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pay 37.1% more for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	Barbados
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$3.24 BBD6.48	+225.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$3.91 BBD7.82	-60.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$14.47 BBD28.93	+146.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$6.13 BBD12.26	+26.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$4.50 BBD9.00	-49.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$2.38 BBD4.76	+40.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$1.70 BBD3.41	+115.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$2.44 BBD4.87	+49.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$2.46 BBD4.91	+56.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$1.96 BBD3.91	+48.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$1.62 BBD3.24	+50.5%
Average			+37.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados - Cost of groceries

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pay 43.8% more for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	Barbados
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$7.73 BBD15.46	+19.8%
Monthly public transit pass	??	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$43,750.00 BBD87,500.00	+77.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$32.40 BBD64.80	+44.4%
Average			+43.8%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.8 times more for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Barbados
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$83.96 BBD167.92	+25.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$925.00 BBD1,850.00	+224.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$900.00 BBD1,800.00	+361.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$112.79 BBD225.59	-35.5%
Average			+179.7%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

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

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados - Cost of childcare

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pay 52.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	Barbados
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$2.75 BBD5.50	+62.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$5.13 BBD10.27	+126.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$7.00 BBD14.00	+209.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$69.17 BBD138.33	+103.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$11.88 BBD23.75	-41.1%
Average			+52.0%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 25.9% more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Barbados
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$49.38 BBD98.75
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$26.88 BBD53.75	-64.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$93.12 BBD186.25
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$81.25 BBD162.50	+342.4%
Average			+25.9%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados - 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: Sao Tome and Principe vs. Barbados

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 6.9 times more money in Barbados

Size Comparison · See true size

Sao Tome and Principe is about 2.2 times bigger than Barbados.

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

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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