Cost of Living: Porto 🇵🇹 vs San Francisco 🇺🇸 (2025 Update)

If you are thinking about moving to Portugal or to the United States, understanding the cost of living is an essential step in planning. For this guide, we used updated data from Numbeo (August 2025) to compare two very different yet highly attractive cities: Porto and San Francisco, CA.

The result? Living in San Francisco can cost up to twice as much (or more!) than in Porto, depending on the category analyzed. Let’s look at the numbers.

📊 General Comparison

• Cost of living (excluding rent):
  San Francisco is 96.4% more expensive than Porto.

• Cost of living (including rent):
  San Francisco is 118.7% more expensive than Porto.

• Rent
  San Francisco is an impressive 164,3% more expensive.

• Restaurants:
  Eating out costs on average 129.1% more in San Francisco.

• Supermarket:
  The prices are 122.6% higher in San Francisco.

• Local purchasing power:
  Despite the high cost, those living in San Francisco have a purchasing power 156.1% higher than in Porto, thanks to higher salaries.

💡 Practical example:
To maintain the same standard of living you would have with €3,900 in Porto, you would need around €8,530 in San Francisco.

🍽️ Food and Restaurants

• Refeição simples: €10 in Porto vs €25,62 in San Francisco (+156%)

• Meal for 2 at a mid-range restaurant: 50 € vs 119,57 € (+139%)

• Cappuccino: 1,88 € vs 5,16 € (+174%)

Result: Eating out in San Francisco costs more than twice as much.

Supermarket:

• 1 kg of rice: 1,41 € in Porto vs 5,65 € in San Francisco (+300%)

• 1kg of apples: 1,92 € vs 6,09 € (+217%)

• Bread (500g): 1,32 € vs 4,42 € (+236%)

• Bottle of mid-range wine: 4,35 € vs 15,37 € (+254%)

👉 Even basic everyday items are much more expensive in San Francisco.

🚇 Transportation

• Monthly pass: €40 in Porto vs €79 in San Francisco (+97%)

• Taxi ride per 1 km: 0,70 € vs 1,72 € (+146%)

• Gasoline: €1,74 in Porto vs €1,10 in San Francisco (–36%)

Fun Fact: gasoline is cheaper in the US, but public transportation is still almost twice as expensive.

🏠 Housing

• 1-bedroom apartment (city center): €1.028 in Porto vs €2.880 in San Francisco (+180%)

• 3-bedroom apartment (outside the city center): 1.415 € vs 3.816 € (+170%)

• Price per m² (city center): 3.993 € vs 9.389 € (+135%)

👉 Living in San Francisco is one of the most expensive parts of the equation.

💼 Salaries

• Average net salary in Porto: 1.133 €

• Average net salary in San Francisco: 6.347 € (+460%)

Although expenses are much higher in San Francisco, salaries are also significantly higher.

🎯 Conclusion

• Porto 🇵🇹 offers a much more affordable cost of living, especially in food, rent, and services.

• San Francisco 🇺🇸 has higher salaries and greater purchasing power, but living there requires a much larger budget.

👉 For those seeking quality of life at a lower cost, Porto is an excellent choice.
👉 For those seeking high salaries and opportunities in the tech sector, San Francisco remains attractive, but with prices that weigh heavily on the wallet.

Read also: Comparison Lisbon Vs. Austin, TX.