Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Macau

Macau vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

Macau is 70.5% more expensive than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 33.4% less in Macau
Groceries: pay 3.3% more in Macau
Transportation: pay 4.4% more in Macau
Housing: pay 2.9 times more in Macau
Childcare: pay 6.8 times more in Macau
Entertainment and Sports: pay 80.1% more in Macau
Clothing: pay 81.6% more in Macau

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

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Macau vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 33.4% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	Macau
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$6.19 MOP50.00	-31.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$5.94 MOP48.00	-24.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$0.89 MOP7.17	-51.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$0.63 MOP5.10	-49.4%
Average			-33.4%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Macau - Cost of restaurants

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pay 3.3% more for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	Macau
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$1.72 MOP13.89	+72.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$8.09 MOP65.42	-17.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$11.99 MOP96.91	+104.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$3.42 MOP27.62	-29.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$8.79 MOP71.05	-1.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$1.20 MOP9.67	-29.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$1.31 MOP10.58	+65.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$0.87 MOP7.00	-47.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$1.09 MOP8.79	-30.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$1.78 MOP14.43	+35.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$1.31 MOP10.58	+21.6%
Average			+3.3%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Macau - Cost of groceries

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pay 4.4% more for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	Macau
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$6.86 MOP55.46	+6.3%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$22.43 MOP181.31
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$30,925.27 MOP250K	+25.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$12.69 MOP102.60	-43.4%
Average			+4.4%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Macau - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.9 times more for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Macau
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$36.99 MOP299.00	-44.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$1,083.62 MOP8,760.04	+280.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$1,032.90 MOP8,350.04	+429.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$93.11 MOP752.74	-46.7%
Average			+193.6%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Macau - Cost of housing

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pay 6.8 times more for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	Macau
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$228.62 STD5M	$1,211.24 MOP9,791.72	+429.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,194.77 STD49M	$18,979.08 MOP153K	+764.7%
Average			+576.9%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Macau - Cost of childcare

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pay 80.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	Macau
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$5.75 MOP46.50	+239.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$5.01 MOP40.50	+121.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$6.68 MOP54.00	+195.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$69.07 MOP558.34	+103.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$13.48 MOP109.00	-33.1%
Average			+80.1%

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

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pay 81.6% more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Macau
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$69.52 MOP562.00
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$33.40 MOP270.00	-55.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$92.78 MOP750.00
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$136.07 MOP1,100.01	+641.0%
Average			+81.6%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Macau - 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. Macau

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Macau?

Quality of Life Comparison · 12 statistics

Make 18.6 times more money in Macau

Size Comparison · See true size

Sao Tome and Principe is about 34 times bigger than Macau.

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

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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