Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

El Salvador

San Salvador vs. Sao Tome Cost of Living Summary

San Salvador is 34.8% more expensive than Sao Tome.

Restaurants: pay 22.7% less in San Salvador
Groceries: pay 9.8% less in San Salvador
Transportation: pay 9.3% less in San Salvador
Housing: pay 2.5 times more in San Salvador
Childcare: pay 23.7% more in San Salvador
Entertainment and Sports: pay 17.0% less in San Salvador
Clothing: pay 99.8% more in San Salvador

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

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San Salvador vs. Sao Tome Cost Breakdown

If you lived in San Salvador instead of Sao Tome, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 22.7% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome	San Salvador
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$6.75 SVC59.06	-24.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$7.00 SVC61.25	-11.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$1.14 SVC10.01	-37.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$0.83 SVC7.29	-33.1%
Average			-22.7%

Sao Tome vs. San Salvador - Cost of restaurants

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pay 9.8% less for groceries

	Sao Tome	San Salvador
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$2.85 SVC24.94	+186.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$3.85 SVC33.72	-60.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$6.95 SVC60.81	+18.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$3.02 SVC26.39	-37.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$3.16 SVC27.66	-64.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$2.29 SVC20.07	+34.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$0.63 SVC5.54	-20.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$1.18 SVC10.35	-27.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$1.56 SVC13.68	-0.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$1.33 SVC11.65	+1.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$1.49 SVC13.05	+38.6%
Average			-9.8%

Sao Tome vs. San Salvador - Cost of groceries

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pay 9.3% less for transportation

	Sao Tome	San Salvador
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$4.75 SVC41.60	-26.4%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$37.50 SVC328.13
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$25,000.00 SVC219K	+1.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$30.00 SVC262.50	+33.7%
Average			-9.3%

Sao Tome vs. San Salvador - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.5 times more for housing

	Sao Tome	San Salvador
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$42.50 SVC371.88	-36.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$898.99 SVC7,866.27	+215.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$770.00 SVC6,737.58	+294.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$99.35 SVC869.35	-43.2%
Average			+146.3%

Sao Tome vs. San Salvador - Cost of housing

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pay 23.7% more for childcare

	Sao Tome	San Salvador
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$228.62 STD5M	$162.67 SVC1,423.35	-28.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,194.77 STD49M	$4,720.00 SVC41,300.50	+115.1%
Average			+23.7%

Sao Tome vs. San Salvador - Cost of childcare

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pay 17.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome	San Salvador
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$2.00 SVC17.50	+17.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$3.55 SVC31.02	+56.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$4.00 SVC35.00	+76.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$31.60 SVC276.50	-6.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$5.00 SVC43.75	-75.2%
Average			-17.0%

Sao Tome vs. San Salvador - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 99.8% more for clothing

	Sao Tome	San Salvador
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$67.15 SVC587.57
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$47.00 SVC411.25	-37.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$118.33 SVC1,035.43
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$117.00 SVC1,023.76	+537.1%
Average			+99.8%

Sao Tome vs. San Salvador - 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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