Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Romania

Bucharest vs. Sao Tome Cost of Living Summary

Bucharest is 90.1% more expensive than Sao Tome.

Restaurants: pay 4.6% more in Bucharest
Groceries: pay 28.4% less in Bucharest
Transportation: pay 0.6% less in Bucharest
Housing: pay 28.6% more in Bucharest
Entertainment and Sports: pay 63.3% more in Bucharest
Clothing: pay 5.7 times more in Bucharest

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

Bucharest vs. Sao Tome Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 4.6% more for restaurants

	Sao Tome	Bucharest
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$29.20 STD651K	$13.80 RON62.15	-52.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 STD260K	$8.05 RON36.25	-31.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.92 STD42,768	$2.27 RON10.25	+18.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.17 STD26,025	$2.15 RON9.67	+83.8%
Average			+4.6%

Sao Tome vs. Bucharest - Cost of restaurants

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pay 28.4% less for groceries

	Sao Tome	Bucharest
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 STD24,088	$1.44 RON6.50	+33.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$10.22 STD228K	$4.98 RON22.45	-51.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.97 STD133K	$6.67 RON30.03	+11.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.09 STD114K	$3.62 RON16.30	-29.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$9.27 STD207K	$3.38 RON15.23	-63.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.12 STD47,219	$0.64 RON2.89	-69.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.53 STD11,805	$0.79 RON3.54	+48.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.85 STD41,316	$0.80 RON3.61	-56.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.59 STD35,414	$1.18 RON5.33	-25.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 STD26,561	$0.46 RON2.09	-61.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.93 STD20,658	$0.47 RON2.12	-49.3%
Average			-28.4%

Sao Tome vs. Bucharest - Cost of groceries

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pay 0.6% less for transportation

	Sao Tome	Bucharest
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.40 STD143K	$6.36 RON28.63	-0.6%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$23.00 RON103.58
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$28,745.54 RON129K
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$6.21 RON27.97
Average			-0.6%

Sao Tome vs. Bucharest - Cost of transportation

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pay 28.6% more for housing

	Sao Tome	Bucharest
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.42 STD2M	$11.39 RON51.30	-84.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$350.40 STD8M	$647.24 RON2,915.25	+84.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$233.60 STD5M	$432.85 RON1,949.62	+85.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$139.60 RON628.77
Average			+28.6%

Sao Tome vs. Bucharest - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Sao Tome	Bucharest
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$664.86 RON2,994.61
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$14,582.52 RON65,681.12

Sao Tome vs. Bucharest - Cost of childcare

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pay 63.3% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome	Bucharest
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.67 STD37,216	$3.45 RON15.54	+106.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.34 STD52,050	$3.28 RON14.78	+40.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.34 STD52,050	$6.67 RON30.04	+185.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.38 STD833K	$52.49 RON236.43	+40.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$21.02 STD468K	$9.20 RON41.43	-56.2%
Average			+63.3%

Sao Tome vs. Bucharest - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 5.7 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome	Bucharest
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$80.54 RON362.76
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$45.47 RON204.82
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$93.98 RON423.28
Men's business shoes (leather)	$19.16 STD427K	$109.75 RON494.33	+473.0%
Average			+473.0%

Sao Tome vs. Bucharest - 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: June 2026

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