2.82/5
902 reviews
Photo by Wylkon Cardoso via Unsplash

Cost of Living in São Paulo

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great

pretty

interesting

sao

safe

public

good

english

hospitals

cold

stay

neighborhoods

jardim

paulista

pinheiros

transportation

subway

São Paulo is generally considered one of the safer large cities in Brazil, especially when compared to places like Rio. Many nomads find the internet connection reliable, and coworking spaces—though pricey—are highly functional and well-designed. Public transport, particularly the subway, is effective and widely used. The local food is well-reviewed, including a variety of vegan options, and people are described as helpful and friendly. It’s also praised as a strong place for business, given Brazil’s significant economy in Latin America.

However, caution is urged around the cost of living—especially if staying in safe and central neighborhoods like Pinheiros or Jardins, which can be expensive. Some users find the city dull compared to places like Buenos Aires, and weather can be disappointing, with long stretches of overcast, rainy days depending on the season. Walkability is inconsistent, and while some areas are pedestrian-friendly, most of the city requires frequent use of buses, metros, or ride-hailing. LGBTQ+ safety concerns were mentioned multiple times, with warnings about rising violence and limited protections. Lastly, while private healthcare is good, public hospitals may not offer fast or English-speaking services.

For a better experience, it's recommended to learn some Portuguese and stay in well-regarded neighborhoods like Itaim Bibi or Vila Madalena.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Stay in one of these neighborhoods: Itaim Bibi, Jardim Europa, Jardim Paulista, or Pinheiros, and it will be great.

2 years ago

I live here and I would like to comment on some things that might be different from what you expect:

- Walkability: Definitely not great, the city is huge, there are neighborhood where is safe to walk, with interesting stuff to do, but this isn't the case on most places far from west zone (Pinheiros and Vila Madalena) and Paulista avenue. Expect to use public transportation (subway and buses) and uber a lot.

- LGBTQ+: Sao Paulo is the state with most homicides against trans people in the whole country. Violence against all LGBTQ+ is surging rampantly, you can search for it, there are some good of articles in English with data.

- Hospitals: There are great hospitals here, but they are, as a majority, private and will cost you to use any service. Public hospitals are available, but don't expect English speaking staff or short queues, they are pretty packed (even after midnight).

Prices are way off too, in the good and safe neighborhoods, don't expect to pay less that 10USD for a meal in a sit-in restaurant. There are cheaper options, but they will hardly have English speaking staff.

3 years ago

Sao Paulo is a place of high contrasts. Massive buildings, roads, and road rage co-exist with peaceful parks, fantastic skies, and very kind locals. Before you go, make sure you have the right expectations because this place is the South American equivalent of LA or NYC. It is absurdly different from Rio as far as the activities and landscape. Some of my favorite things are the 20,000+ restaurants and bars, people watching (more contrast), free art museums and attractions, and the fantastic co-working spaces (not cheap, but some very well designed). On September 2021, 1 dollar buys 5.19 reais (local currency). One of the reviews mentions cold but this Spring, the temperatures are hitting 95-100F consistently. It may get "cold" there about 5 days a year.

4 years ago

I like São Paulo, but I don't love it. It's pretty boring in my opinion. Probably because I love Buenos Aires so much and it just does not compare.

Also for the 4 months (September - January) I was there, it was cold, overcast, and rainy 85% of the days. It was pretty depressing!

Other than that, it's pretty safe overall for Latin America. Also, I really appreciate how people here take COVID more seriously than in a lot of other places in Brazil.

If I had to do it again, I would stay near Ibirapuera Park - it's so beautiful.

4 years ago

Amazing place, and kind of a futuristic city!! Public transportation is also great, especially the subway.

5 years ago

A particularly interesting city to make business (Brazil is the strongest economy in Latin America). I recommend learning some basic Portuguese to really network and connect with the people; Brazilians might party openly with foreigners, but reserve the most interesting parts of their culture to Portuguese speakers.

5 years ago

Sao Paulo is a great city, one of the biggest in the world and has everything you'll ever need. Compare it with New York without all the glamour and you have it

5 years ago

Never written a review before but I've been to most of the top cities on Nomadlist and they're all pretty good.... however, Sao Paolo is a fine city, typical for Latin America, but it doesn't belong at #7 (as of this writing) :) There's just nothing especially interesting about it compared to other cities.

5 years ago

Greatest city to be a nomad in Brazil by far. Low crime rate when compared to Rio, 4G works great in a lot of places and what you can have the most is fun here. Cost of living can be a little too high if you don't pick carefully a place, but people are friendly and help you to find the perfect place. Ah, and food here is delicious, even if you're a vegan.

6 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Friendly people

✅ Good public transport

✅ Good for business

✅ Great coworking spaces

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality today

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to make friends

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

❌ Expensive

❌ Cold and gloomy weather

❌ Not walkable

❌ LGBTQ+ safety concerns

❌ Boring to some

❌ Not safe at all

❌ Difficult to do business

❌ Roads can be dangerous

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels

86 30°
warm

84 29°
warm

88 31°
hot

73 23°
mild

72 22°
mild

70 21°
mild

82 28°
warm

72 22°
mild

75 24°
warm

77 25°
warm

Real

81 27°
warm

80 27°
warm

82 28°
very warm

73 23°
mild

71 22°
mild

69 21°
mild

70 21°
mild

79 26°
warm

72 22°
mild

75 24°
warm

77 25°
warm

Humidity

sweaty
77%

sweaty
74%

nice
78%

nice
74%

nice
76%

nice
64%

nice
74%

nice
73%

nice
86%

nice
75%

nice
80%

Most common

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
248mm

rainy
179mm

rainy
166mm

dry
40mm

dry
31mm

dry
29mm

dry
32mm

dry
36mm

dry
27mm

rainy
116mm

rainy
81mm

rainy
154mm

Cloud

cloudy
56%

pockets
43%

pockets
33%

pockets
38%

pockets
33%

pockets
41%

pockets
25%

pockets
34%

pockets
33%

cloudy
59%

pockets
42%

pockets
46%

Air quality

bad
149 US AQI

bad
148 US AQI

bad
139 US AQI

bad
119 US AQI

bad
109 US AQI

okay
98 US AQI

okay
81 US AQI

okay
84 US AQI

bad
103 US AQI

bad
124 US AQI

bad
137 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

2,124 people

2,775 people

2,133 people

1,877 people

1,725 people

1,450 people

1,200 people

1,525 people

1,800 people

1,711 people

2,376 people

2,343 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on São Paulo's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Brand Designer @ Contra
	Motion Designer @ Contra
	Lead Product Designer @ Stealth
	DeFi Researcher @ Gauntlet
	Administrative Executive @ Prime Design & Build
	Principal Software Engineer @ Shippo
	3D Logo Designer @ Contra
	Tech Lead Data @ Zensurance
	Senior Software Engineer @ Emergent Software
	Senior Product Designer Europe @ Hostaway
	Full Stack Developer @ RainFocus

Help pick the best photos for São Paulo and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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$1,472 / mo

12 Mbps

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.82/5 (Rank #124) 902 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍13 liked it 👎5 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,743 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 15Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 21°C69°F (feels 21°C70°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 78%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Good: 65 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	😷 Unhealthy for some: 103 US AQI
👌 Safety	Bad
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Very bad
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $721 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Great
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Good
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Latin America
🚩 Country	Brazil
🗓️ Average trip length	14 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	15 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 21°C 69°F + 😊 Comfy (78%) = feels 21°C 70°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 65 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👎☠️ 103 US AQI = 🚬 / day
🔌 Power	115V 230V 60Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Higienópolis
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Jardim Sao Bento
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10 BRL in USD	USD 1.75
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	BRL 1,000 = USD 175
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Link2u
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Ponto de Contato
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍16% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	2,300,000 visitors
📸 Tourists now	44,079 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	12,000,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$8,649 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 43% 👱‍♀️ 57%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 51% 👱‍♀️ 49%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 81% 👱‍♀️ 19%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Mercado Livre
🏠 Apartment listings	Zap
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Azul
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Azul
🏥 Best hospital	Samaritano

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,743 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$980 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,067 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$591 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,014 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,027 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$431 / month
🏠 Median home price	$113,931
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$48 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$34 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$230 / month
🍛 Dinner	$7
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$9,880 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$28 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$2 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$3,200
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$10,460
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$28,475