Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Sierra Leone

Freetown vs. Sao Tome Cost of Living Summary

Freetown is 27.0% more expensive than Sao Tome.

Restaurants: pay 45.0% less in Freetown
Groceries: pay 27.2% less in Freetown
Transportation: pay 46.2% less in Freetown
Housing: pay 2.7 times more in Freetown
Entertainment and Sports: pay 28.2% more in Freetown
Clothing: pay 2.7 times more in Freetown

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

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Freetown vs. Sao Tome Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 45.0% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome	Freetown
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$2.00 SLL41,939	-77.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$11.00 SLL231K	+39.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$1.83 SLL38,444	-0.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$0.85 SLL17,805	-31.9%
Average			-45.0%

Sao Tome vs. Freetown - Cost of restaurants

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pay 27.2% less for groceries

	Sao Tome	Freetown
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$0.66 SLL13,755	-34.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$3.54 SLL74,319	-63.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$9.15 SLL192K	+55.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$1.81 SLL38,023	-62.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$4.54 SLL95,116	-49.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$3.18 SLL66,581	+86.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$1.36 SLL28,535	+71.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$0.32 SLL6,742	-80.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$2.27 SLL47,558	+44.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$0.91 SLL19,023	-31.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$0.74 SLL15,488	-31.4%
Average			-27.2%

Sao Tome vs. Freetown - Cost of groceries

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pay 46.2% less for transportation

	Sao Tome	Freetown
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$5.02 SLL105K	-22.3%
Monthly public transit pass	??	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$12,000.00 SLL252M	-51.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$4.50 SLL94,363	-79.9%
Average			-46.2%

Sao Tome vs. Freetown - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.7 times more for housing

	Sao Tome	Freetown
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$55.00 SLL1M	-17.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$928.33 SLL19M	+225.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$1,261.67 SLL26M	+546.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$45.88 SLL962K	-73.8%
Average			+174.2%

Sao Tome vs. Freetown - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

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

Sao Tome vs. Freetown - Cost of childcare

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pay 28.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome	Freetown
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$2.25 SLL47,181	+32.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$2.76 SLL57,878	+21.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$3.00 SLL62,908	+32.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	??
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	??
Average			+28.2%

Sao Tome vs. Freetown - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.7 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome	Freetown
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$10.00 SLL210K
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$20.00 SLL419K
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$50.00 SLL1M	+172.3%
Average			+172.3%

Sao Tome vs. Freetown - 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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