Cost of living comparison

Taiwan

compared to

Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome vs. Taipei Cost of Living Summary

Sao Tome is 25.4% cheaper than Taipei.

Restaurants: pay 71.7% more in Sao Tome
Groceries: pay 9.0% less in Sao Tome
Transportation: pay 25.8% more in Sao Tome
Housing: pay 49.3% less in Sao Tome
Childcare: pay 78.7% less in Sao Tome
Entertainment and Sports: pay 10.1% less in Sao Tome
Clothing: pay 42.7% less in Sao Tome

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

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Sao Tome vs. Taipei Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 71.7% more for restaurants

	Taipei	Sao Tome
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.71 NT$150.49	$8.96 STD200K	+90.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.65 NT$180.59	$7.89 STD176K	+39.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.92 NT$29.35	$1.84 STD41,004	+100.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.65 NT$20.86	$1.25 STD27,770	+91.0%
Average			+71.7%

Taipei vs. Sao Tome - Cost of restaurants

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pay 9.0% less for groceries

	Taipei	Sao Tome
Bread 1 loaf	$2.02 NT$64.65	$1.00 STD22,187	-50.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.85 NT$314.68	$9.80 STD218K	-0.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$11.54 NT$368.90	$5.87 STD131K	-49.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.72 NT$87.00	$4.85 STD108K	+78.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.45 NT$142.21	$8.89 STD198K	+99.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.23 NT$71.26	$1.70 STD37,881	-23.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.51 NT$48.15	$0.79 STD17,644	-47.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.38 NT$44.23	$1.63 STD36,419	+18.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.02 NT$64.54	$1.57 STD34,958	-22.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.25 NT$39.84	$1.31 STD29,299	+5.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.04 NT$33.27	$1.08 STD23,986	+3.4%
Average			-9.0%

Taipei vs. Sao Tome - Cost of groceries

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pay 25.8% more for transportation

	Taipei	Sao Tome
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.94 NT$126.01	$6.46 STD144K	+63.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.67 NT$1,203.90	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,523.97 NT$1M	$24,634.18 STD549M	-26.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$8.95 NT$285.93	$22.43 STD500K	+150.8%
Average			+25.8%

Taipei vs. Sao Tome - Cost of transportation

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pay 49.3% less for housing

	Taipei	Sao Tome
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$27.40 NT$875.71	$66.91 STD1M	+144.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,012.31 NT$32,354.87	$284.91 STD6M	-71.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$482.92 NT$15,434.64	$195.02 STD4M	-59.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$66.27 NT$2,118.10	$174.83 STD4M	+163.8%
Average			-49.3%

Taipei vs. Sao Tome - Cost of housing

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pay 78.7% less for childcare

	Taipei	Sao Tome
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$662.67 NT$21,179.76	$228.62 STD5M	-65.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,675.66 NT$533K	$2,194.77 STD49M	-86.8%
Average			-78.7%

Taipei vs. Sao Tome - Cost of childcare

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pay 10.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Taipei	Sao Tome
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.83 NT$90.29	$1.70 STD37,799	-40.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.42 NT$109.45	$2.26 STD50,442	-33.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.92 NT$125.41	$2.26 STD50,420	-42.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$41.15 NT$1,315.12	$33.92 STD756K	-17.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.73 NT$311.01	$20.16 STD449K	+107.1%
Average			-10.1%

Taipei vs. Sao Tome - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 42.7% less for clothing

	Taipei	Sao Tome
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$63.18 NT$2,019.38	??
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.99 NT$1,277.99	$75.02 STD2M	+87.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$84.98 NT$2,715.95	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.09 NT$3,358.66	$18.36 STD409K	-82.5%
Average			-42.7%

Taipei vs. Sao Tome - 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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