Cost of living in Brazil in 2025

I live in Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, in the interior, about a 5- or 6-hour drive from Belo Horizonte, the state capital.  It's famous for its heat (today's high was 94 F, low was 71. Last summer we had 10 consecutive days over 100, one of the reasons I moved this year to a new apartment with A/C.)  Also known for paragliding and its 17 (at last count) pickleball courts at 4 different venues.  (It's where the pickleball "seed" was planted in Brazil, in 2018.)

What is the cost of renting or buying an apartment or house in Brazil?

    My experience:  rent at former apartment 7th floor, secure building 24-hour doorman, suite + 2 bedrooms; no a/c but a  fairly nice breeze: rent was R$1450 + roughly R$1400 including gas and water included with the condominium charge.

    My new place: R$3000 + R$1450 condominium, 12th floor with veranda and fantastic view of the local Ibituruna mountain.  And air conditioning.

What are the typical fares for public transportation such as buses, subways, trains, trams, or taxis?

    Local transport buses are free for over 60; taxis and uber are comparable and, of course, vary depending on time of day, distance.  My usual 3.5 km trip runs about R$13 in the evenings, or about R$8 on Sunday mornings (same route).  No subways, trains, or trams.  Only one airline serves the city, Azul, and it only goes to Belo Horizonte, twice a day.  Tickets can be quite expensive, but there are occasional promotions that bring the price for a mid-week round trip ticket to about R$600.  It's not unusual to find tickets priced at R$800 or R$1000

Could you share the average monthly cost of your grocery shopping?

I'm exceptional, but, for example (because it seems to be on everyone's minds), eggs are currently  R$11 for a tray of 20; a loaf of sandwich bread runs R$4,50 (plain white) to R$13 (hearty whole-grain)

How much does health insurance cost? What is the price of a medical consultation in Brazil?

    My health insurance (over 70 y.o.) with Unimed is R$1275 / month.

What are the tuition fees for children?

    No idea.

What are the average monthly costs for utilities, such as electricity, gas, water, internet, and phone plans?

    My electric bill last month with A/C was R$430; gas and water are included in the condo fees; internet is R$85 for basic, all-inclusive "turbo" is R$130 /month. 

How much do you spend monthly on leisure activities?

    Maybe R$750 (club memberships, socializing after pickleball)

20 liters of drinkable water is R$17

10.1 kg sack of my dog's hypoallergenic dogfood is R$350

Today's exchange rate, by the way, is R$1 = US$ 0.17

There's ongoing inflation.  Everywhere it seems. I'm grateful I have dollars to work with.  🙏

Janet

OK I'll bite......

Two adults, no kids or pets. We own two apartment condos.

Rio de Janeiro, 40 M2 middle class flat in Copacabana, one BR and one parking stall, 24 hr doorman, prime location beside metro station and PF batalao, walking distance to 5 supermarkets and 4 blocks from middle of the beach. R$500.000 market value, units in our building will rent for R$3.000 + expenses (condo R$1.250....IPTU R$ 100......gas R$100.....elec using AC at night R$250).

Petropolis (45 min outside of Rio in the Serrana region) 93 M2 high end flat in luxury building, 2 BR, 3 BATH, parking stall, 24 hr doorman, prime location downtown, R$1 MM value......units can rent for R$3,500 plus expenses (condo R$1100.......IPTU R$310......gas $190......elec R$150......no need for AC there).

Metro in Rio is R$7,50 one way. I don't ride the buses. Honestly, in both cities, we walk everywhere, because we bought in areas where we could accomplish that. We own a car but rarely use it. Just spent R$11.000 on long overdue deferred maintenance last week at the 60,000 KM mark.

Food for two is R$1.000 a month at supermarkets and street fairs in either place.

Shopping is cheaper In Rio, so we buy everything there except for groceries.

Wife's Unimed is R$1.500 but I refuse to buy into the health insurance ponzi scheme, as SUS works fine in Petropolis. And if necessary, I can and have self funded private emergency or long term hospital care. My private doctor is R$400 for a consult, and we also belong to a medical co-operative for R$49 a month for the two of us combined that has reduced prices for exams/tests, etc.

700 Mbps fibre internet is R$129 thru Oi......TIM cell plan with 85 gigs and free everything is R$119........I'm going to cut that in half in September when my plan expires.

We don't spend money on entertainment. Copacabana is a free show 24/7 and you can kill 2-3 hours walking 10KM on the beach. In Petropolis there are lots of free things to do as well.

I'm a wino, so, good Argentinian or Chilean reds are R$30 a bottle.......or JW Red Label whiskey is R$59.......nice restaurants are too pricey, it's not that I can't afford them. They are just insanely priced for the value, even though they are half the price of US/CAD equivalents. I just refuse to pay their prices on principal. Botequims, or the 1-2 reasonably priced places are were we go on occasion.

You can live for way less, or wasaaaaay more in both cities, or anywhere else in Brasil. YMMV........

@Cheryl

At the end of the day, these answers are best separated into location categories. Just casually browsing through the internet most videos etc. are heavily geared to Sao Paulo and Rio. Many of these may not apply to those of us who live in much smaller locations.

I live in a village of only 2,500 people in the Northeast. Our houses (3x) are built on very large property owned and completely paid for by my wife.  My house which I share with my constant companion, SIMBA was $20k US. Dollars including the appliances. We as well as all the bugs that come with living in a tropical location (84 degrees year-round) do not pay rent.  I am very sure that most homes in our village were built and paid for too.

Roddie in Retirement🕵

I live in Ilhéus, which is undergoing a building boom. Beachburbs, I call them. New 31m2 studios are R$250k. A million will buy you a nice 100m2 apartment. And you can spend much more, of course. You'll need a car in the ‘burbs.

I live in an older neighborhood in Ilhéus. I walk to everything I need. Ilhéus is a sleepy beach town. Entertainment consists of watching the crabs scuttling on the beach.

Sea bass and grouper cost R$120 per kilo. Fresh salmon from Chile costs the same, surprisingly. Filet mignon and picanha are R$75.

Flights in and out of IOS tend to be expensive.

Not a bad place to retire, if you have to retire. 

@roddiesho

I'm just reporting the real estate prices I've seen in Ilhéus. And the fish prices. 😀

I live 50 meters from the ocean. I have no bugs, nor air conditioning.

It’s the same old story. If you are trying to live on reais and a typical Brazilian salary it’s quite expensive. If you are living on gringo dollars and a 5-6 to 1 exchange rate, chances are money is not your biggest problem.

@roddiesho

Property is cheap 25 minutes west of Ilhéus. Building costs are roughly comparable. But you got no ocean view out there.

It’s the same old story. If you are trying to live on reais and a typical Brazilian salary it’s quite expensive. If you are living on gringo dollars and a 5-6 to 1 exchange rate, chances are money is not your biggest problem. - @KenAquarius

Ken has assimilated quite well it seems KKKKKKKK as he is repeating the whine that you often hear from Brasilians who have no international travel experience. They jealously seem to think where we once lived was plated with gold, and that money grew on trees, in a land where everything was free.

A common cultural trait here is that you live at home until you marry......male or female.......it doesn't matter. When you meet the one, you save money together to buy an apartment in cash or with like 50% down. Then you move out. Your parents die and leave you one or several houses.

Two locals making R$4-5.000 each can live quite well today on their own, even if they have to rent. Don't believe me, well, I can show you bars, restaurants, clubs, malls, etc, at nights and on weekends in Rio. They're packed.

I forgot to add that public transit and lunches are subsidized by employers. It's federal law.

02/01/25 Ken has assimilated quite well it seems KKKKKKKK as he is repeating the whine that you often hear from Brasilians who have no international travel experience. - @kolyaS122HSU

The Salário Mínimo this year is R$1,518, and over 40% of the population make that or less.  Over 80% make R$4,000 or less.  Ken may not have assimilated the financial condition of the average expat or of the Bright Young Things crowding the bars and nightclubs of Copacabana every weekend, but he seems to have a pretty good handle on the majority of the population:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/125 … le-brazil/

And now that Trump has declared economic war on the rest of the world, American expats should prepare for an increasingly weak Dollar, I think.  Canadians may do better, and I hope they do.  🤞🏻

The majority of Brasilians also DO NOT live in SP or RJ either, nor are living alone while renting an apartment in either of these places, which are the two most expensive cities. I'd suggest their cost of living is half or less of a resident in either of these two locations.

I'm gonna wager that a single person, or couple in the 80% living in another area is surviving alright for the aforementioned reason. I'm ambivalent on Lula and the PT, but they did make a massive difference in improving both the lower to middle class.

If I took R$200K I could buy a new 2 BR house in the NE (Rio das Ostras area north of Cabo Frio, to name but one) and live on probably R$4.000 a month very comfortably by myself, for example. Walk everywhere and spend R$5-600 on groceries.

You'll wager what?

This seems to be a straw man proposition to me.

On facts and mathematics validating my point as I have given in my example. You always have to have a plan B and plan C to survive worst case scenarios just in case.

How much is your rent, utility, internet, and grocery cost in Iheus for a month ? That's what this thread is about.

@kolyaS122HSU

Says the rich gringo.

On facts and mathematics validating my point as I have given in my example. You always have to have a plan B and plan C to survive worst case scenarios just in case.
How much is your rent, utility, internet, and grocery cost in Iheus for a month ? That's what this thread is about. - @kolyaS122HSU

My rent is low compared to Rio. Utilities and groceries  are comparable.

What is your linkedin?

On facts and mathematics validating my point as I have given in my example. You always have to have a plan B and plan C to survive. - @kolyaS122HSU

I have two engineering degrees. I have managed multi-million dollar software projects.

My name is Alan Murphy Halley.

Who you?

Alan

@kolyaS122HSU

I have been traveling to Brazil 24 years now. Married to a Brazilian for 17. I can clearly see both sides and l know how difficult it is for (average) people here to live on what they make. Yes it’s true they have communal living, and I’m glad they like it because it’s really their only option. At least for the slice of the population l am immersed in.

02/03/25 Banco do Brasil has finally gotten its "Minhas Finanças" feature working right, so I have some good numbers for the household expenses that we paid from our Joint Account in 2024:

What is the cost of renting or buying an apartment or house in Brazil?

We bought and renovated our 150 sq. m. apartment in the Centro Histórico of Manaus in 2018.

Our monthly condominium assessment is R$1,672.  Rents in our building run about R$3,500/mo.

Our ITPU was R$937.15 in 2024, paid upfront to obtain the discount.

What are the typical fares for public transportation such as buses, subways, trains, trams, or taxis?

Bus fares in Manaus have been R$4.50, going up to R$5.00 on February 15.  There are reduced fares for students, and people 60 and older ride for free.  This is a pretty good deal for people who have the time for it, because the município is enormous (about twice the size of the Federal District, or half the size of the State of Sergipe) and the busses go to most of it.  Intercity transportation in the State of Amazonas is mostly by riverboat or air, mostly small planes.

There are no trains or trams, we don't take taxis, and we don't have a car.  We spend an average of R$580/mo. on Uber, which gets us everywhere we want to go.

Could you share the average monthly cost of your grocery shopping?

Groceries (feira and supermarkets) for two -- R$4,300/mo.

Restaurants for two, sometimes more -- R$1,550/mo.

How much does health insurance cost? What is the price of a medical consultation in Brazil?

We pay R$1,226/mo. for my health insurance, and R$487/mo. for my (much younger) husband's, same company and plan for both.  All medical services, including primary care, regular checkups, specialists, imaging, physical therapy, surgeries, and hospitalization are included.

What are the tuition fees for children?

N/A

What are the average monthly costs for utilities, such as electricity, gas, water, internet, and phone plans?

Electricity averages R$600/mo.

Gas (bottled) averages R$41/mo.

Our building has a well, so we don't pay for water.  Sewer charges are included in the condominium assessment. 

We average R$120/mo. for bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Broadband fiber internet R$205/mo.

Housecleaning, about R$500/mo., for someone who comes about every two weeks.

How much do you spend monthly on leisure activities?

Highly variable; a lot when we're traveling, not much when we're at home.

@kolyaS122HSU Says the rich gringo. - @alan279

Wish I was.......KKKKKKKK

I don't do LinkedIn or anything else online. Nobody needs to know who I am, nor do I have a need to tell anyone what I'm all about. We're just discussing stats here, it's not Tinder.

@Abthree

Holy cow !!! Some tjings in Manaus are expensive ne ? I wish you could have seen my wife's face when I told her how much the grocery, internet, electricity, etc, cost you. What's the reason for the differential between the south  east where I live ?

02/07/25 Holy cow !!! Some tjings in Manaus are expensive ne ? I wish you could have seen my wife's face when I told her how much the grocery, internet, electricity, etc, cost you. What's the reason for the differential between the south east where I live ? - @kolyaS122HSU

Food -- and a lot of other things -- are somewhat more expensive in Manaus than in other major cities because we effectively live on an island, and pay island prices for things.  The most annoying aspect is electronics, most of which are assembled in the duty-free Polo Industrial here, get shipped south, and then get shipped back.  There's no land connection to the rest of the country, and basically everything comes up from the south (and some perhaps from the east) by water except for freshwater fish (naturally!), some of our manioc flour, and locally grown fruits.  I've never cared for freshwater fish and my husband is a vegetarian, so that doesn't help us much. 

When you wrote that you two pay R$1000/mo for food, I just assumed that it was a typo and you meant R$1000/WEEK.  Our grocery bill at the supermarket (we do go to the best one in the city) started out at about R$600/wk back in 2017 and has gradually climbed with inflation to at, near, or even above R$1000 most weeks.  We pay a lot for special vegetarian dishes every week, but I don't have to eat them and don't even get cajoled to try them, so it's all good.  We also, for reasons that I can't quite remember, patronize an eccentric Italo-Brazilian artisan baker who lives in the Zona Rural, to the tune of about R$80/wk.  He's quite an entertaining character, though, and his bread is really good.

With respect to electricity, we have the AC running all night in our room, and all day in the study where we spend most of our time, so that means that it's running in one room or another 24/7.  The pricing of electricity is a mystery to me, and there were a lot of "Bandeira Amarela" and "Bandeira Vermelha" months last year.  I understand that demand in the Southeast accounted for at least some of that -- share and share alike!

Our spend for restaurants is definitely inflated, because in 2024 we did a lot of traveling.  My husband wants to work in government oversight and has been participating in concursos in various cities where we thought we might like to live, if the job was a good professional move, paid well, and the syllabus matched his strong suits.   We would always go out a day or two early so he'd be well rested, then stay a few more days to get the lay of the land, and be eating out all the time.  This week we found out that he qualified for one of the jobs he wanted in the Concurso Público Nacional Unificado (CNU), so we may be staying here but we'll probably be moving -- we both especially like the Northeast, but anywhere from Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo north works well for us -- and there will be fewer restaurants in our future.

AB3: I've never cared for freshwater fish…

Me neither. Are salt water fish/seafood flown into Manaus for you?

…fewer restaurants in our future.

😱

02/07/25  AB3: I've never cared for freshwater fish…
Me neither. Are salt water fish/seafood flown into Manaus for you? - @alan279

Some.  Our supermarket flies fresh salmon in from the farms in Chile.  We used to have salmon every Saturday night, but when only one person in the house eats animal protein, it's more trouble than it's worth.  There's frozen shrimp that's ok.  There's dried shrimp in the Mercado Municipal that I don't know where it's from and don't really care to find out.   And this being Brazil, there's always salt cod, everywhere and at Christmas Eve and Fridays in Lent, almost unavoidable.  The samba doesn't call this country "Portugal Tropical" for nothing.

During the past year or two I've filled up on fresh seafood in Fortaleza, João Pessoa, Aracaju, Vitória, and Florianópolis, so I can't complain about being deprived.

AB3: I've never cared for freshwater fish…
Me neither. Are salt water fish/seafood flown into Manaus for you? - @alan279

OMG - and THAT thought sparked the memory of a fry pan of asparagus with fresh caught Wisconsin early season native brook trout!!!

And now that my mind is hooked on that idea, well, a properly done catfish is hard to beat! Surely there are good surubim in Manaus!!! One of the best fish dishes I aver ate was in Manaus - it was some kind of salad concoction with pirarucu.

mberigan

@abthree

Fresh salmon from Chile arrives Ilhéus on Thursdays. It's R$100+ per kilo. About the same price as the locally caught sea bass and grouper. Yellowfin tuna is one third the price. I like yellowfin tuna, but I was told that Brazilians don't like it. I've never cared for cod, especially dried salt cod. I was spoiled with 4 ounce shrimp in California years ago. There are freshwater shrimp here, Pitu. Tasteless, I think. Grilled octopus is available in one restaurant, octopus salad in several others. Octopus costs R$100 per kilo in the fish store. Lobsters here are skinny and expensive. They were cheap ten years ago. Local crabs are inexpensive. A little restaurant down the street has live crabs in a tank to pick from. Kids love to watch the crabs. Clams and mussels are inexpensive in restaurants. They're too much trouble to cook for one person. I pan sear salmon in less than 10 minutes. Sea bass and grouper take a bit longer. I'm not much of a cook.

@mberigan

I grew up eating catfish from our ponds in Missouri. But later I preferred the trout fresh out of the small spring fed rivers in the Ozarks. I had fresh trout in France. Restaurants on the river banks are the best.

I will retire soon and my pension will be in the middle $3k range in dollars( not inc 401k) I have been to Brasil several times and find it cheaper than living in the US as most say it depends on the location for prices. This year I will visit Porto Seguro to see what its like there. But I really looking at Joao Pessoa but who knows

02/10/25 I will retire soon and my pension will be in the middle $3k range in dollars( not inc 401k) I have been to Brasil several times and find it cheaper than living in the US as most say it depends on the location for prices. This year I will visit Porto Seguro to see what its like there. But I really looking at Joao Pessoa but who knows - @rdav01

No worries.  You should be able to live comfortably on that amount almost anywhere in Brazil, and not have to touch your US funds except for special purchases, like international travel.

@rdav01

An expat friend loves Porto Seguro. I visited him two years ago, looking for a new city to live in. I found Porto Seguro too car-centric to my tastes. Your mileage may vary, of course.

@rdav01

Two American friends really liked living in João Pessoa. Sadly, I haven't visited JP.

@rdav01

I have been to JP many times, and have been living in a small city on a tropical island about 2 hours drive away for many years (search Itamaraca Tourism if you want to know more).

JP has pretty much all you want from a medium size city, except that the nearest decent international airport is a long drive away to Recife (the one in JP is domestic flights only). There are good expat communities both where I live and in JP, so you should find plenty of informed advice if you should need it.

Price-wise, JP is substantially more expensive than Itamaraca, but has much better infrastructure, shopping, restaurants, etc. If you are looking for apartment living, both have good options, but if you want a house on the beach Itamaraca would be the place to go - and Itamaraca has lower prices for both real estate purchase and rental.

02/11/25 @rdav01.  Some more hard numbers.  The exchange rate this morning per Wise is 5.78935.  That translates to US$3,500 yielding over R$20,250; I don't think there's anywhere in Brazil where a person, a couple, or even a family cannot live comfortably on that kind of monthly income, as you can attest by checking the numbers people are sharing above in this thread.  A little more economy may be required in Rio or São Paulo than in João Pessoa  or Belo Horizonte, but,income-wise at least, all of Brazil is your oyster.

While there is persistent low-level inflation in Brazil, at least over the last seven years or so years of my personal experience the gradual appreciation of the Dollar against the Real has mostly kept up with it, and I have not found a need to increase the amount of my monthly transfer since I moved here definitively in 2017. 

Of course, "past performance is no guarantee of future results", especially since US fiscal policy for the next several years apparently will be based on feelz, maybe with the help of some Magic 8 Balls, Ouija Boards, and the trade principles of Messrs Smoot and Hawley (Willis, not Josh), but the history up to now has been encouraging.

02/12/25 And now that my mind is hooked on that idea, well, a properly done catfish is hard to beat! Surely there are good surubim in Manaus!!! One of the best fish dishes I aver ate was in Manaus - it was some kind of salad concoction with pirarucu.mberigan - @mberigan

My husband's grandmother remembers eating surubim as a girl in the interior and liking it, but says that she never sees it in the Public Market here.  Neither do we, or in restaurants, but we wouldn't be looking for it, either.  Wikipedia says that it sustains a commercial fishery, but that could be farther downriver -- his grandmother is from the Rio Madeira area -- or the information could be outdated or just wrong.

When fish is the only choice, I go for pirarucu.

@abthree

Nope........it was R$1.000 a month........we rarely go over R$250 on our weekly excursions to the supermarket. For example, I eat twice a day only. I have a 4 egg omelet with cheese, onions, mushrooms, and a sliced tomato, and then an orange for breakfast, and then 200 gm of either chicken or beef with a big salad for lunch. I drink coffee and water. All I do is vary the ingredients for a change, swapping out oranges for a honeydew melon or pineapple when in season, etc, or change the omelet ingredients, but that's it. My wife is the same more or less.

My wine consumption is roughly R$300 a month........we go out to a comida a kilo (R$75) or a cheap botequim (R$150) about once a week.

If we lived in Rio full time our electricity would be higher in the summer months when it's 40-50 degrees every day, but still, when it is 20-25 in winter and the colder days you don't need it if you have screens and keep the windows open. Petropolis rarely goes over 30, so, no need for AC units here.

We used to spend $3-5.000 a month on nice restaurants but quit, because we got to a point where we couldn't decide where to go anymore and were tired of the constantly rising prices and slipping food quality. There are two pizzarias we love that are cheap and delicious, and 1-2 comida a kilo's we patronize, but, that's it now. If we want to eat something fancy I cook dinner at home and we dine on the balcony, watching the sunset.

It all depends on what kind of lifestyle.

In Sao Paulo to live like middle class minimum 10k Reais. For two people 15k.

Deposit 1 million Reais into CDB or CDI and get minimum 13% apy return. Rates projected to be higher by the end of the year since inflation is expected to be higher.

Deposit 1 million Reais into CDB or CDI and get minimum 13% apy return. Rates projected to be higher by the end of the year since inflation is expected to be higher. - @jc1234

Interesting proposition....

Assuming 13% interest return on R$1M - this gives R$130K/year, how much of that goes in taxes?  Should the investment be increased to R$1.5M so that the net after tax is around R$140K?

Paulo......

A CDB is not taxed unless you withdraw money. Interest is credited daily to the balance in the case of mine.

Paulo......
A CDB is not taxed unless you withdraw money. Interest is credited daily to the balance in the case of mine. - @kolyaS122HSU

A CDB is taxed WHEN the funds are withdrawn.  There is a reason for that...

The tax you pay on the profit with a CDB varies between 15% and 22.5%, depending on how long you leave the funds invested for.  For example up to 6 months you pay 22,5%, but 2 years or more you pay 15%.