Cost of living in Brazil – 2015

1) we own the house
2 ) own a motor bike
3) R$400
4) we don't get ill
5) no kids
6) R$70
7) R$70
8) R$40
9) R$6

I for got to put down where I live Iguaba Grande RJ,,, its cheep here

Hi! I'm Al and I live in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil (the Mid-West) of the country. Well, the cost-of-living will differ a lot from city to city and the size of your family. But here's are the numbers I'm currently paying to live in Brazil:

> accommodation prices - I pay R$1,400 rent plus R$100 condo fee

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.) - I own a car so I don't depend on public transportation

> food prices (your monthly budget) - that's between R$450 to R$700. If I have a birthday party at home, then I buy extra stuff.

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance) - I pay in cash, so I get a discount. But most of my clients are doctors so either I pay very low for a visit (R$150) or it's free (my wife's OBGYN).

> education prices (if you need to pay): that varies from school to school (between R$385 to R$700). I pay R$590 for a four-year-old.

> energy prices (oil, electricity): gas R$40 (I buy a "botijão" every 2 or 3 months), electricity R$40, water R$47

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone) R$200 for internet, cable tv and landline. for cel phone it's about R$52 for me and about R$28 for my wife

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant: this varies but it's not less than R$70 but not more than R$100. but if you go out for "espetinho", I'd say it's about R$35.

> price for a coffee or a drink: I don't drink coffee or buy alcohol.

> price for cinema tickets: I don't go to the movies either

swimming class for my daughter: R$128/month

Since my wife is a stay-home-professional-mom, I don't pay for a cleaning lady, laundry, babysitter and most of the time we eat at home. We only go out on the weekends or when my wife's been very busy with other things.

Well, I hope this helps!

Al

Hi  from Brasilia!



- accommodation price: 3000 reas a month approx.
-transport: about 600 reas per car, plus insurance, plus road annual taxes per car
-food expenses: 2000 to 2500 reas per month
- health price: dont even think of getting sick!

- eduaction:  any good private school is  800 to 1000 reas per month per child, we perfer public school, after all for what we pay all these taxes?

- common bills: dont even ask

-energy prices: gas :55 reas, water : 150 reas , electricity : 150 ( these are estimates with economical use)
- resturante : average 35 to 60 reas per person. again  these are popular places.
- coffee:  6 to 9 reas per cup ( mid size coffee with milk)
-cinema: 35 reas per person.
- help at home : 1000 reas plus travel , plus  tax

Enjoy

Hi all,

Well, I guess as Brazil's member of the Expat-blog Experts Team I can't escape posting my information to this topic so here goes!

I will also try to give some cost cutting tips wherever I can too. Actually if you read my topic thread High cost of living in SP and how to economize it gives a lot of money-saving ideas there. While it was written with São Paulo in mind it really applies to anywhere in this great big country.

> accommodations:  I live in a rather small apartment removed from the city center of Macaé so my rent is quite low, only R$500 per month and no condominium fees involved. (In town you're going to be paying around R$1500 plus condo fees for a 1br apartment)

> transportation:  Macaé enjoys the honor of having the lowest bus fare in all of Brazil R$1, anyone over 60 years of age or who has a disability rides for free. So my transportation costs are ZERO, NADA, NOTHING, ZIP. (happy me) We have no subway or commuter trains. In major cities like São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte it really pays to get a rechargeable bus pass and use it. You can save a lot and in most cases you get to where you're wanting to go much faster on public transportation than sitting in gridlocked traffic.

> food:  Fortunately I've been here in Brazil long enough to really adapt to the Brazilian rice and beans as staples in my diet. Both my (Brazilian) wife and I cook so we mostly eat at home. Each month I buy a "cesta básica" a collection of the basic foodstuffs that a family would use in a month. The one I buy also includes household cleaning supplies too (recommend this one). Actually some of the items such as rice and sugar come in such quantities that we give half of them to my mother-in-law each month. The cesta básica here costs R$180. We need to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and milk, and some other odds and ends on top of that. So I'd estimate my overall monthly food expense somewhere around R$400 for a family of 3. I can't stress strongly enough if you can handle rice and beans the cost effectiveness of buying the cesta. You'll find them in any city, just ask a neighbor and best of all somebody always is selling them delivered right to your door - very convenient.

>  health care:  Guess I'm very lucky despite my age I'm in great health, so I use the SUS - Sistema Única da Saúde which is free. We live two blocks from the local UPA (Emergency clinic) and the service there as well as being free is excellent, hardly ever any wait and in most cases the clinic's pharmacy has any medications required for free too. What they don't have I certainly don't mind buying at the local pharmacy. Buy generic drugs wherever possible they save you a lot.

> education:  My 7 1/2 year old son attends the local public school. His teachers have been excellent since the very beginning and he's so intelligent and learning so quickly he's positively scary. Makes me (a teacher) feel like a dummy half the time. I'm quite involved in his education and attend all the parent/teacher meetings. They teach the Portuguese language phonetically and he's reading at a surprising level, he's somehow transposed that over to English too (not yet taught in the grade level) and he's quite able to read many things in English. He already speaks some of the language too because of me. So overall I'm quite satisfied with the public system here. His school uniform is provided free at the beginning of the school year and we only need to pay out for the school supplies he normally uses (about R$150 per year)

> energy:  Despite all the home cooking we manage to squeeze about 3 to 4 months on a bottle of gas (botijão) which costs R$48 here (around R$90 if you buy it the first time, because you pay a deposit on the bottle). We have fans going all the time because of the heat here in Macaé so our electric bill is quite high. With computers going and the TV on we're paying on average R$115 per month. I can't stress strongly enough buying the compact fluorescent lights (of LED if available) and not using incandescent bulbs. I switched over and cut the electric bill almost in half. We are on well water here so there is no water bill per se, but that means we must buy the 20 liter bottled water for cooking and drinking, here that's R$6 a pop and we usually go through 3 each month.

> common bills:  We pay R$55 per month for internet (they should pay us since it's down so darned often), R$63 per month for Claro TV. I'm going to try and work a discount with them to just supply cartoon channels since I never watch TV and my little guy only watches cartoons (mostly in English). Wonder if Claro will go for that idea?    Both my wife and I have pre-paid cellular phones so I'd estimate that we're paying around R$60 or so per month between the two of us and around R$20 per month for my 3G modem when I'm out giving classes. Rather than paying the extra for additonal channels on TV, if you've got a computer and high-speed internet then find some of the free TV sites to keep your cable or sat TV costs down.

> eating out:  There's a great pizzeria just down the road and boy do they know pizza, but they've just upped their prices so a large is now R$45 and giant is R$55, once in a while that's no hardship. Sometimes we go hog wild and take our little guy to McD's or Habib's and I watch the bank account drain like a bucket with a large hole in it.

> coffee and drink: A cup of regular coffee (café com leite) costs anywhere from R$1 - 2 depending on where you are. No Starbucks for me thankyou!!! I don't drink alcohol, except for the occasional beer on a real hot day so that's not even worth counting. If I spend R$10 per month on the suds I'd be surprised.

> cinema tickets:  The cinema is in a shopping mall so far from here I don't even know what they charge for admission. My son gets invited out to the movies by his great aunt from-time-to-time and that's fine by me. Keeps the little guy happy.   

So there you have it!

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

Ok Here goes:
Florianopolis.
Accomodation : We rent a 3 bedroom apartment in a decent location , 5 minute walk from the beach . We pay 1450 /- + 350 condo fees. If we move 15 min drive we can probably get a small house , 2 bed with a garden for about 1000-1200 /month. Which wud have been my choice but we started looking for houses in summer and long lease was hardly available.
2) Food cost..we are a family of 7 ( mashallah ) . Our food cost varies between 1500-2000. Including perks like ice cream everyday and soda. We cook a lot of meat dishes. If we turn vegetarian we cud down our cost to maybe half. A typical frozen chicken ( whole ) costs about 12-14 reis. An assado costs about 20 . But the size is smaller. We buy at the Sacolao where we pay 2.25 / kg for a good variety of fruits and veg. locally grown. If we go to a restaurant we usually pay about 40-45 for a la carte per person. But there are buffets charging about 20 with 3-4 variety of main dishes . We usually eat at New York Grill in Canasvieras ( rua madre maria villac ) which gives a giant , excellent  american burger for 15 reis.
3) my daughter was born in a public hoapital and i have used the sus from time to time. Locally in my area it is better but towards centro the service is not good. I prefer the pvt at times dependibg on the need. a visit to the doc costs 100/- if i have the sus card..which we do.
I must mention that my experience with the local hispital Camra Dutra was amazing. I have no complaints other than that they do not give epidurals even if u die of pain. *hhrrmmphh* . They say its against policy.
4) my 3 kids go to a pvt school and i feel that is the biggest expense load on us. we pay for van, and school fees and for books for about 800 per child per month and its not a bilingual school though they have english classes twice a week and offer spanish in higher grades. Bilingual schools cost about 1000-1500 just the fees . I enrolled my younger 4 year old in a public creche and its not bad. They serve decent food abd the building has a fire alarm and enough teachers. I might shift my others to a public school but i have heard too many horror stories of higher classes in public school.
4) we dont go to the cinema or many entertainment places.
5) a cappacino costs about 6/- and +2 for chantilly..( my vice and indulgance ) . Dont drink alcohal .
6) Transport costs 7 reis on aircon exectivo yellow bus . Its direct . and 2.5 -3 on normal connecting one. Taxi is expensive. For about a 4 min drive to Angeloni i pay 10 reis. 4 reis is calling charges ( inc) .
7) Our gas and water is free and included in condo.  But for drinking we buy the big 19 gallon or something bottle for 10 reis. A normal soda of 2 litre usually costs 3 reis and 5.5-7 reis in the summer.
I have a maid come in three times a week for four hours. She charges 65/day. In summer or short term they charge 80-175 for 4-8 hours cleaning house and washing dishes and cothes.
In summer EVERYTHING goes double if not triple in floripa. ppl move out of their houses in small rooms to rent their house to tourists. A normal room goes for abt 100-250 USD per night. Its crazy here in summer. Thats y we have ppl like Paris Hilton and movie stars coming here to party ( oollala) Though I never even saw one . Though one day I thought I saw Jhonny depp crossing the road with his dog .
There is another site which offers stats for all cities.www statistics.com or something.   It had helped us a lot to understand price range . I dont remember the name. will confirm later . I hope it helps.

wow everywheres cheaper than Rio!

RIO


> accommodation prices - I pay rs1200 for a 1 bed but i live in a favela....If you want a 1 bed in copa,ipa,leblon you will pay rs3000 or more plus condo fees.

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.) bus rs3.40 tube rs3.50

> food prices (your monthly budget) - I live on my own and spend about rs800 on food a month

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance) -dont have

> education prices (if you need to pay) - no children but teach kids at private school and even the bad ones are expensive...

> energy prices (oil, electricity) - dont have a car

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone) - mobile about rs50 a month - internet rs70 a month

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant - rs70-rs100

> price for a coffee or a drink rs4-rs5 alcohol usually about rs11 for garrafa of cerveja

> price for cinema tickets about rs30

I am living in Maragogi. 2 hours South of Recife and 2 hours North of Maceio. As inflation  with Dilma at the wheel, continues to roll on; the accelerated  price of gas has recently brought multiplied concern to the door of economy which affects naturally the price of all goods and services.
Recreation Industry  finds   prices of Pousadas/ Hotels /Restaurants inflating , causing stall- during Carnaval.
Grey-outs and insufficient water supply continue to spiral Brazil into a bleak - 3rd world status.
The lack of allowable competition leave few with incentive to better themselves.
Uncontrolled  corruption at Governmental levels become repugnant to further ignore. Case in point ;multiple heads roll from Petro-Bras but greasy Government heads remain  -clean as the driven "S-NOW".
An  Inferior transportation system is revealed by the cost of shipping products even with-in its borders. This is not to mention the distain from other Countries , giving up attempts to import here!
Food is yet found reasonable, housing somewhat stable in our Region. Again inflation however, eats away at the quality of life. 
With a failed water-canal distribution system the generators of energy grind stop- as well. Maybe the answer is blowing in the wind from billions dumped into wind generators which if ever do come on- line will NOT remain  serviced ; just like all other elements of a criminally run system.
Just from One belly-buttons  or A-H's opinion.

Respectfully submitted, Ron Thomas

i live in a shared republica in São Paulo, pretty close to Centro:

Accommodation: R$1250 for the room and access to everything (kitchen, bathroom, laundry etc. It's got everything, but it's not a private apartment)

Public transportation: R3.50 per ride; as I use the subway a lot I buy a weekly pass, which comes out to R$192 per month.

Food cost per month: R$500 (only supermarket purchases, not eating out)

Medical costs: none at the moment

Education: just private classes twice a week: R$400

Energy: Monthly gas & electricity is split between all who live in the house & comes out to about R$40 per person, per month.

Cellphone expense: With R$1 internet charge per day, and additional texts & calls R$50

Going to a eatery / lanchonete: R$15 - 20 per meal
Going to an average restaurant: R$50 - R$70 per meal

A tall bottle of beer: R$8 - 13
Average bottle of wine: R$30 - 45
Cup of coffee: R$3 - 6

Movie ticket: R$45

Hi all from Marilia SP. I don´t think the city is too expensive. I am in a lucky situation, live in the centre so have no need for a car and I also work in the centre so need for much public transport use. Having said that the prices have gone up a lot in the past 12 months but salary hasn´t haha The hardest part is to have money left over me when everything else is paid! 

> accommodation prices - The apartment is my father in laws so we just pay cond which is R$400 per month.

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.) - bus is R$2,85 a trip.

> food prices (your monthly budget) - Varies from month to month but usually about R$250

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance) - Have no idea as never had to use (touch wood)

> education prices (if you need to pay) - Don´t pay yet but from some friends who have kids, it is anywhere from R$200 - R$1500 per month depending of the school.

> energy prices (oil, electricity) - Gas included in the cond. tax electricity is about R$60 per month.

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone) - About R$250 per month

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant - About R$50 pp

> price for a coffee or a drink - Coffee prices I have no idea!! 600ml skol R$6 - R$10

> price for cinema tickets - R$18

I'm really surprised at the number of people posting here that are missing out on a real money-saver. I can't stress strongly enough on buying the Basic Food Basket (Cesta Básica) if you cook at home and have become accustomed to the Brazilian staple diet of beans and rice. You will get the products in the pack at much less than the supermarket price, since the sellers are buying these items in great quantities and  package them up, the savings are passed along to the purchaser. Not only that, but they're delivered to your door. Usually after the first purchase or two, you don't pay when you get the basket, but rather at the end of the month when the next basket is delivered, so it's easy to budget.

BASIC FOOD BASKET CONTENTS (note: contents and price may vary slightly from state to state)

QUANT               PRODUCT
10 Kg    REFINED SUGAR
10 Kg    WHITE RICE
05 Kg    BLACK BEANS
04 Btl    COOKING OIL (SOYA) - 900ml
01 Kg     TABLE SALT
01 Kg    WHEAT FLOUR (sometimes substituted with Corn flour)
01 Kg    MANDIOCA FLOUR
01 Kg    SPAGHETTI
1/2 Kg    MACARONI  (PENNE OR TWIST)
1/2 Kg    CARNE SECA (DRIED BEEF)
1/2 Kg    GROUND COFFEE
01 Can    FRANKFURTER - 200g
01 Can    SARDINES - 125g
01 Can    TOMATO EXTRACT - 340g
02 Pkg    CREAM CRACKERS - 200g
01 Tbt    GUAVA PASTE - 300g
01 Btl    SOFT DRINK – 2 L
+ CLEANING KIT
02 Pkg    TOILET PAPER - c/4un   
01 Box    LAUNDRY SOAP - 1Kg   
01 Un    DISH DETERGENT - 500ml   
03 Un    BAR SOAP - 90g   
01 Pkg    STEEL WOOL - c/4un   
01 Un    TOOTHPASTE - 90g   
01 Tub    SOAP PASTE - 500g
01 Pkg     SAFETY MATCHES - 10 boxes   
02 L    FABRIC SOFTENER   
02 L    DISINFECTANT CLEANER   

Here in Macaé I'm paying R$180 for the cesta básica and for a family of 3 the quantity of sugar, rice and beans is much more than we can use in a month, other product that don't get consumed so quickly and thus build up between purchases get sent off to my mother-in-law. What goes to her each month is usually a 5 Kg. bag of sugar, a 5 Kg. bag of rice, 1 or 2 Kg. beans, 1 L. cooking oil, the soap paste most months, steel wool most months, safety matches and some months the Mandioca flour. Even so, I'm sure this is saving me quite a bit on my overall food bill and it's sure scoring me big points with mommy dearest. 

I encourage all of you to try it at least for a couple of months especially if you have a small family. If you live alone, but still cook at home or have someone cooking for you, a cesta básica will probably last you 2 months and save you even more.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

I bought here a few times also but I mostly eat lunch and the sogros so I don´t need that much food at home!! But in the future I will be buying again. When I bought last time (about 18 months ago) it was R$150 I think.

Hi James good info please tell us how to order that basket or where we can buy this. If you have number for home delevery at home please post it .
I live in osasco centro, might be different number for Osasco.
Thanks