Cost of living comparison

compared to

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

Cook Islands is 79.6% more expensive than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 17.9% more in Cook Islands
Groceries: pay 18.1% more in Cook Islands
Transportation: pay 2.6% more in Cook Islands
Housing: pay 21.5% more in Cook Islands
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.5 times more in Cook Islands
Clothing: pay 3.7 times more in Cook Islands

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

Cook Islands vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 17.9% more for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	Cook Islands
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$29.20 STD650,623	$11.54 NZ$19.88	-60.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 STD260,249	$7.93 NZ$13.67	-32.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.92 STD42,768	$2.88 NZ$4.97	+50.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.17 STD26,025	$2.50 NZ$4.31	+114.0%
Average			+17.9%

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

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pay 18.1% more for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	Cook Islands
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 STD24,088	$3.11 NZ$5.36	+187.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$10.22 STD227,718	$4.98 NZ$8.57	-51.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.97 STD132,995	$7.37 NZ$12.70	+23.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.09 STD113,503	$5.57 NZ$9.59	+9.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$9.27 STD206,583	$3.40 NZ$5.86	-63.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.12 STD47,219	$1.30 NZ$2.24	-38.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.53 STD11,805	$1.05 NZ$1.80	+97.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.85 STD41,316	$1.56 NZ$2.69	-15.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.59 STD35,414	$2.75 NZ$4.73	+72.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 STD26,561	$1.05 NZ$1.80	-12.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.93 STD20,658	$0.82 NZ$1.42	-11.1%
Average			+18.1%

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

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pay 2.6% more for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	Cook Islands
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.40 STD142,518	$6.56 NZ$11.31	+2.6%
Monthly public transit pass	??	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$11,538.70 NZ$19,880.61
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	??
Average			+2.6%

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

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pay 21.5% more for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Cook Islands
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.42 STD1,613,544	$105.96 NZ$182.57	+46.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$350.40 STD7,807,473	$305.77 NZ$526.84	-12.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$233.60 STD5,204,982	$305.77 NZ$526.84	+30.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$82.72 NZ$142.53
Average			+21.5%

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

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	Cook Islands
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	??
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$1,384.64 NZ$2,385.67

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

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pay 2.5 times more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	Cook Islands
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.67 STD37,216	$5.99 NZ$10.31	+258.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.34 STD52,050	$3.80 NZ$6.54	+62.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.34 STD52,050	$14.42 NZ$24.85	+517.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.38 STD832,797	$24.04 NZ$41.42	-35.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$21.02 STD468,448	$6.63 NZ$11.43	-68.4%
Average			+146.9%

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

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pay 3.7 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Cook Islands
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$64.62 NZ$111.33
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	$19.16 STD426,809	$70.96 NZ$122.26	+270.5%
Average			+270.5%

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

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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