Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Thailand

Bangkok vs. Sao Tome Cost of Living Summary

Bangkok is 11.1% more expensive than Sao Tome.

Restaurants: pay 53.7% less in Bangkok
Groceries: pay 28.0% less in Bangkok
Transportation: pay 9.2% less in Bangkok
Housing: pay 48.5% more in Bangkok
Childcare: pay 4.3 times more in Bangkok
Entertainment and Sports: pay 10.0% more in Bangkok
Clothing: pay 85.1% more in Bangkok

The cost of childcare, clothing, housing, and entertainment and sports in Bangkok are more expensive than in Sao Tome. Expenses including restaurants, groceries, and transportation are lower in Bangkok. Notably, childcare and clothing are significantly more expensive in Bangkok.

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Bangkok vs. Sao Tome Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Bangkok instead of Sao Tome, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 53.7% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome	Bangkok
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$2.97 THB98.83	-66.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$6.98 THB232.24	-11.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$0.65 THB21.64	-64.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$0.35 THB11.72	-71.7%
Average			-53.7%

Sao Tome vs. Bangkok - Cost of restaurants

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pay 28.0% less for groceries

	Sao Tome	Bangkok
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$1.48 THB49.16	+48.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$8.63 THB287.02	-11.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$7.27 THB241.89	+23.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$2.56 THB85.32	-47.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$1.63 THB54.28	-81.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$1.77 THB58.85	+4.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$0.81 THB26.83	+1.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$1.24 THB41.35	-24.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$0.87 THB29.09	-44.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$0.78 THB26.00	-40.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$0.69 THB23.01	-35.7%
Average			-28.0%

Sao Tome vs. Bangkok - Cost of groceries

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pay 9.2% less for transportation

	Sao Tome	Bangkok
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$5.32 THB176.90	-17.6%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$34.98 THB1,163.67
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$31,193.83 THB1M	+26.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$10.55 THB350.83	-53.0%
Average			-9.2%

Sao Tome vs. Bangkok - Cost of transportation

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pay 48.5% more for housing

	Sao Tome	Bangkok
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$17.88 THB594.63	-73.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$675.80 THB22,480.48	+137.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$346.10 THB11,513.16	+77.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$82.03 THB2,728.64	-53.1%
Average			+48.5%

Sao Tome vs. Bangkok - Cost of housing

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pay 4.3 times more for childcare

	Sao Tome	Bangkok
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$228.62 STD5M	$568.31 THB18,904.94	+148.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,194.77 STD49M	$16,500.59 THB549K	+651.8%
Average			+332.3%

Sao Tome vs. Bangkok - Cost of childcare

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pay 10.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome	Bangkok
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$2.67 THB88.94	+57.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$2.79 THB92.95	+23.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$4.60 THB153.18	+103.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$58.43 THB1,943.57	+72.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$7.58 THB252.00	-62.4%
Average			+10.0%

Sao Tome vs. Bangkok - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 85.1% more for clothing

	Sao Tome	Bangkok
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$70.75 THB2,353.53
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$42.94 THB1,428.36	-42.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$97.05 THB3,228.30
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$109.92 THB3,656.54	+498.6%
Average			+85.1%

Sao Tome vs. Bangkok - 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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