Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Papua New Guinea

Port Moresby vs. Sao Tome Cost of Living Summary

Port Moresby is 58.8% more expensive than Sao Tome.

Restaurants: pay 28.7% less in Port Moresby
Groceries: pay 6.4% more in Port Moresby
Transportation: pay 3.9% more in Port Moresby
Housing: pay 2.8 times more in Port Moresby
Childcare: pay 3.2 times more in Port Moresby
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.8% more in Port Moresby
Clothing: pay 94.1% more in Port Moresby

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

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Port Moresby vs. Sao Tome Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Port Moresby instead of Sao Tome, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 28.7% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome	Port Moresby
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$7.78 PGK35.37	-13.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$5.56 PGK25.27	-29.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$0.75 PGK3.41	-59.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$0.67 PGK3.03	-46.5%
Average			-28.7%

Sao Tome vs. Port Moresby - Cost of restaurants

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pay 6.4% more for groceries

	Sao Tome	Port Moresby
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$1.52 PGK6.91	+52.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$4.32 PGK19.64	-55.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$7.10 PGK32.28	+20.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$3.69 PGK16.78	-24.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$2.58 PGK11.75	-70.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$1.95 PGK8.88	+14.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$1.44 PGK6.57	+82.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$3.29 PGK14.97	+101.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$2.92 PGK13.29	+86.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$1.51 PGK6.88	+15.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$1.31 PGK5.96	+21.7%
Average			+6.4%

Sao Tome vs. Port Moresby - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.9% more for transportation

	Sao Tome	Port Moresby
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$3.78 PGK17.18	-41.5%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$22.22 PGK101.06
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$50,004.77 PGK227K	+103.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$23.34 PGK106.12	+4.0%
Average			+3.9%

Sao Tome vs. Port Moresby - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.8 times more for housing

	Sao Tome	Port Moresby
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$91.68 PGK416.89	+37.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$1,603.86 PGK7,293.44	+462.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$555.61 PGK2,526.59	+184.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$89.65 PGK407.67	-48.7%
Average			+178.9%

Sao Tome vs. Port Moresby - Cost of housing

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pay 3.2 times more for childcare

	Sao Tome	Port Moresby
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$228.62 STD5M	$842.47 PGK3,831.07	+268.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,194.77 STD49M	$6,176.41 PGK28,086.83	+181.4%
Average			+222.0%

Sao Tome vs. Port Moresby - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome	Port Moresby
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$3.00 PGK13.64	+76.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$2.47 PGK11.24	+9.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$6.45 PGK29.31	+184.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$61.49 PGK279.61	+81.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$8.89 PGK40.43	-55.9%
Average			+19.8%

Sao Tome vs. Port Moresby - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 94.1% more for clothing

	Sao Tome	Port Moresby
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$32.73 PGK148.82
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$31.67 PGK144.02	-57.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$136.12 PGK619.02
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$163.90 PGK745.35	+792.5%
Average			+94.1%

Sao Tome vs. Port Moresby - 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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