Author: dan

Cost to Retire in Santos Brazil

Today, I show you two adjacent beach cities in the second-safest state in all of Brazil.  Why is São Paulo State considered safer than others?  São Paulo is the financial capital of Brazil.  So they have the money to pay for more security.  

Last week, I showed you the safest beach island in Brazil.  At the end of this video, I will give you a link to that video.  

As I share these two new beach cities, I will show you the video we took with our feet on the ground here.  I will also give cost-of-living numbers and the 8 factors we considered when picking our favorite of the two.

Okay, the first city is called Santos, Brazil.  Santos is the home of Pelé, one of the best and most respected soccer players who ever lived.  Santos is a beautiful city on the beach in the second-safest state in all of Brazil, São Paulo State.  

Google Map

We preferred Santos because it felt more livable for day-to-day life.  There were more restaurant choices, including neighborhood restaurants.  There were more shopping malls, historical sites, and history.  

Santos was one of the first cities founded by the Portuguese in 1546, and Santos Port is Brazil’s primary gateway for international trade of coffee and other imports and exports.

Google Map

The second city is Guarujá, just a 10-minute ferry ride from Santos.  These two cities are next door to each other, but have very different feelings.  Guarujá is more of a resort destination, so the population varies greatly from high to low season.  

Santos is mainly a city where people live and work year-round.  So Santos has better general infrastructure, but Guarujá has more vacation-style high rises and more beautiful beaches.  

So our preference would be to live in Santos and take the short ferry ride over to Guarujá Beaches once or twice a year for the beautiful beaches.  But for most trips to the beach, we would go to Santos Beach.  

I left the United States in 2007.  I move forward through the world buying one-way tickets, sharing the best places to retire affordably overseas.  I was last in Brazil in 2009.  I have returned to update my estimated cost-of-living numbers.  

After sharing my low to middle range living costs for Santos, I will share why some of you may prefer staying in Guarujá and take the 10-minute ferry over to Santos from time to time.

Estimated Cost to Retire in Santos, Brazil

Rents: I found a furnished 1-bedroom apartment advertised for rent today for R2900 ($537 USD) per month, with a long-term lease agreement in our favorite part of Santos.  If you rent for a shorter period on Airbnb, it would be much more expensive.  

If you rent a larger apartment long-term, the rent would be higher, starting around $975 USD per month or more, depending on the area and size.  

Here is the process we use to find great apartments.  So, we will show you a table of all expenses in a moment.  We will use $537 USD per month for our lower rent estimate and $975 per month for the middle cost of living estimate for expats who want a little more space.  

Utilities:  We estimate that the year-round average for our utilities would be about $70 USD per month for the smaller apartment above.  The utilities would cost more for the larger space, starting at around $120 USD per month.  

Groceries:  We estimate about $300 per month for groceries.  Other expats are likely to shop more often in expensive grocery stores, often spending more than $400 per month on groceries.  

Restaurants:  We would eat out twice per week in local-style restaurants for about $6.12 to $10.00 USD per meal per person, and one or two splurges per month of $12 to $20 USD per meal per person.  If you add all that up, we would spend around $200 per month for the two of us in restaurants. We may have a beer here and there, but that is covered below in alcohol.  

Other expats are likely to eat more often at expensive restaurants and less in local-style restaurants, so they would likely spend more like $340 per month for 2 people in restaurants.  It is lifestyle-dependent.

Cell Phone Data: The cost to get a prepaid SIM card for your unlocked smartphone is about $10 USD per month.  

Other expat couples are likely to buy two prepaid SIM cards so they would spend $20 USD per month.  

Laundry: Unfurnished apartments in Santos generally have no washing machines.  Drop off laundry in the area would charge us about $12 USD for 5 kg of laundry per week, or $48 USD per month.

Drinking Water: Ceramic drinking water filters in Brazil typically cost around $120 to purchase, and the filters require replacement every year at a cost of approximately $100.  So we would spend about $12 per month on drinking water.

Internet: 60 Mbps in-home wifi is about $20 USD per month.

Transportation:  We loved the Gonzaga area of Santos.  All of our daily needs, including groceries, shopping, restaurants, coffee shops, and nightlife, would be within a 20-minute walk of Gonzaga.  We may take an Uber home at night or from grocery shopping twice a week for about $2 to $4 per ride, or $16 per month.  Many people also ride bikes here so we would consider purchasing bicycles also.  

Other retirees may want to pay cash for a used car, but would still need to pay another $400 per month or more for gasoline, repairs, insurance, and off-street parking.

Alcohol (Optional): Domestic beer in grocery stores in Santos are $0.70 USD. In bars and restaurants, domestic beers are around $2 to $3 USD.   So, we estimate about $90 per month on alcohol for the two of us.

Many other expats would spend a higher amount for imported foreign or craft beers in convenience stores, bars, and restaurants, so we estimate about $250 USD per month for 2 people, assuming they do not drink imported whiskey or wine.  

Entertainment (Optional):  We would budget about $200 per month for entertainment for the two of us.  We generally enjoy doing more do-it-yourself kinds of entertainment, so other expats would spend a little more, maybe $300 per month, for 2 of them?

Estimated Costs to Retire in Santos, Brazil

We gathered this data with our feet on the ground here in November of 2025, so adjust for inflation after that.  The above lower estimated cost of living would be if the two of us lived in Santos on a tight budget.  The middle estimate is just an example of what more typical expats might spend if they moved here.  

So, what would it cost you to live in Santos, Brazil?

To understand what it would cost you to live here, you must put your feet on the ground, see how you would choose to live, eat, and entertain yourself, and add it all up.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else spends because we are all different.  

You should also add anything to the above table that you spend money on in your home country that is not listed in the above table.  Presumably, you find those things necessary in life.  To do that, visit the Numbeo Santos and add anything not mentioned in the above table.  Anything not on Numbeo you should add during your exploratory visit before moving to Santos.

Never move anywhere until you have visited first personally to verify the living costs for your lifestyle and needs. I am not guaranteeing these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different depending on your lifestyle and the time since this post.    

Typical expats’ living costs in Santos, Brazil, range from about $1500 to $4000 per month.  But people spending that much often have higher savings, incomes, or pensions.  They often report spending more on accommodations, entertainment, eating out more, traveling, and alcohol.  Many also have more expensive cars, houses, or apartments.  

Santos, Brazil, Livability Factors

Before you move anywhere outside your home country, make sure to create a list of things that you must have for your happy retirement.  Here are my livability factors, and I will rank each as high, medium, or low before assigning an overall retirement desirability score.  

Walkability:  High.  We walked everywhere in Santos.  Everything was so centralized that we rarely needed to walk more than 20 minutes to get where we needed to go for everyday purposes.  Plus, walking is the healthiest way to stay in shape as we age.  

Internet:  High.  The in-home wifi in our apartment was 60 MBPS up and down.  Good enough for us to do Zoom calls, upload YouTube videos, and watch Netflix.  We were also able to use our cell phones as hotspots when we were out of the house together.

Food:  Medium.  Santos does not have as many international food choices as places like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.  If we lived here, we would have a tendency to cook at home more when we missed Mexican, Asian, or other International favorites.  We like spicy food, and there didn’t seem to be much Spice in Santos.  

Weather:  High.  Brazil is below the equator, so summer starts in December.  Summer daytime highs average from 86°F (30 °C) in February down to daytime winter highs of 77°F (25 °C) in July.  Nightly summer lows average from 74°F (23°C) in February down to 60°F (16°C) for nightly winter lows in July.  The rainy season is December through April, with January receiving the most rain of 11.3 inches (287mm).

Things to Do:  High.  Santos, a larger port/city, has a more stable year-round population compared to Guaruja, which is a smaller, more seasonal tourism “beach town” with many more seasonal visitors.  So Guaruja’s population varies dramatically between high and low seasons.  

In Guaruja, being around people on holiday (or on long weekends from nearby Sao Paulo) can be good because they are excited and want to try new things, party, have fun, and spend money.  But it can be bad because it tends to force seasonal prices higher, and the crowding can be annoying.  

In high season, Guaruja has swimming, scuba, beaches, boat tours, kayaking, stand-up boarding, live music, people watching, nightlife, cultural tours, coffee shops, tennis courts, shopping, and golf.

Santos has many of those activities, but doesn’t have as large a fluctuation in seasonal population.  It feels more like home year-round.  

 Social Considerations: Medium.  English is not widely spoken in Brazil.  You will find some English speakers in tourist-facing businesses, but you can’t depend on it.  So, if you intend on retiring here, you should learn some Portuguese for a fuller life.   I have met many expats overseas who have used Duolingo, the free language smartphone application, to learn many different languages.  If you are just visiting, become familiar with Google Translate before you arrive.

Safety: Medium.   Both Santos and Guarujá are in the second safest state in Brazil.   Santos felt safer to us than in Guaruja.  But you need to remain aware of your surroundings when in Brazil and do your best not to get isolated, especially at night.  

Use Uber taxi to get home in the evenings.  Nothing valuable should be in an unsecured pocket, oe back pack, and don’t leave valuables out in the open.   Also, the US State Department issues travel advisories for each part of the world, which you should be aware of.  Brazil is level 2 right now, “Exercise Increased Caution.”  We often travel to level 2 locations, so this was not a big concern for us, but you should be aware of it nevertheless. Here are my thoughts on how to remain safe all over the world.

Expat Community: Medium.  Here are a few Facebook pages 1, 2, and 3, that cater explicitly to English-speaking expats living in teh State of São Paulo.   These online expat communities are great for learning things that expats want to learn when they first move overseas.  You will often find that someone has answered your questions recently, so first search for already answered questions before asking questions in these groups.

Medical: High. This healthcare international comparison index ranks Brazil 83rd in the world, which is not quite as good as the United States, which ranks 69th in the World. There are different ways healthcare is rated, but this one seems to be considering not only the quality of care but also what patients are charged.

The good news is that Brazil’s public healthcare system is free for all citizens and visitors, as mandated by the country’s constitution.  Several tourist videos report receiving free treatment in hospitals in Brazil.

Tourist Visa: High.  Australia, Canada, and the United States are countries whose citizens are currently required to get a digital e-Visa for tourism and business travel to Brazil for 90 days.  Other countries should check the embassy in their home country to verify entry conditions, or consult the bottom of this page.

Retirement Visa:  You must demonstrate a $2000 USD per month pension or equivalent and prove you are retired in your home country, provide a clean criminal record in your home country, and prove you have health insurance if the application is made from outside Brazil.  Details.  

You can probably do this yourself, but if you want a lawyer, I would request a referral to a lawyer on one of the Expat Facebook pages I shared above. I would ask the expats for an immigration lawyer whom they used personally to get their retirement visa.

Real Estate: Foreigners can own land in Brazil, although there are some limitations and significant complications even for Brazilians.  

Great Neighborhood $75k USD: I found this online for sale today.  It will likely be gone when you read this, but use this webpage and search in Santos or Guarujá if you are interested.  

I would not buy real estate in a foreign country until I have lived there for an extended period of time, making sure I loved it after the honeymoon period. I have a report explaining what to look out for and why.  I would also hire a lawyer who has no conflict of interest with me. Do not use a lawyer recommended by your real estate broker or your local lover. I would seek a referral from an expat who has used that lawyer’s services to successfully buy real estate in Brazil.

Santos, Brazil, Overall Retirement Desirability Score: High. We just really enjoyed Gonzaga and the adjacent neighborhoods with a chill nightlife, shopping, malls, restaurants, coffee shops, and loved walking around the place.  The beach is not as beautiful as the beaches in Guarujá, but those are just a ferry ride and an Uber taxi ride away when the mood strikes.  

Santos Old Town

Museu Pelé

Being from the USA, I remember growing up and hearing about the greatest soccer player that ever lived from Brazil, named Pelé, but I had no idea of his personality and the people who loved him all over the world.  It was a true joy to tour the Pelé Museum to learn what an extraordinary man he was and how deeply he affected the world around him.  Even if you know nothing about soccer, you must see how a positive man in society can bring love into the world.  Location.  Cost: Free

Street Car

While in Old Town Santos, one highlight will be taking the tourist streetcar, which is right across from the entrance to the Pelé Museum.  As the street car takes you around Old Town Santos, the operator will explain the highlights and history of various parts of the old town.  It brings the old town to life.  Location.  Cost. $1.50 USD

Museu do Café

Brazil produces about 37% of the world’s coffee beans.  The Santos Coffee Exchange (Coffee Palace) was the commercial center of exchanged traded coffee for Brazil from the 1920s until the 1950s.  This is where traders set the price of coffee beans before they were loaded onto ships in Santos Port and shipped all over the world.  The building is so beautiful that it has been preserved for the ages and turned into a Coffee Museum.  Location.  Cost: $3 USD.

Safety Tips

We felt safe walking around the Gonzaga and adjacent areas of Santos during the day and evenings.  From the early evening on, we would order an Uber taxi whenever we realized the direction we needed to walk was starting to feel isolated.  Additionally, be sure to read my thoughts on how to stay safe worldwide.  Although we generally felt safe in both Santos and Guarujá, we felt safer in Santos overall.  Locals told us to stay off the beach in Guarujá once it is dark.  

Where we stayed in Santos

We stayed in our favorite part of Santos, called Gonzaga.  We stayed in an Airbnb that we weren’t really happy about, so we are not going to share the link.  But we do recommend staying in or near that area of Santos, as it felt vibrant, interesting, and safe to us.  

How we got to Santos, Brazil

We took an Uber taxi from our Airbnb apartment in Guarujá to the ferry terminal on the Guarujá side of the harbor.  Then we took the ferry over to Santos.  Once on the Santos side of the harbor, we took an Uber taxi to our Airbnb in Gonzaga.   The Uber rides were about $5 USD each, and the 10-minute ferry to Santos was $0.75 USD per person.  

Where we stayed in Guarujá

We stayed in this Airbnb apartment for 14 nights at about $47 USD/night.  We were within walking distance of just about everything we needed here.  If we moved here and signed a long-term lease, I would expect to pay much less per night, as shown above under the cost-of-living rent examples.  

How we got to Guarujá, Brazil

We took an Uber taxi from our Airbnb apartment in Cabo Frio to the Cabo Frio bus station.  The bus from Cabo Frio Bus Station to Sao Paulo Bus Station was 10 hours and cost 191R ($35 USD) per person.  The Uber Taxi from São Paulo to our Guaruja Airbnb took about 1,5 hours and cost 251R ($46 USD).  

Our Favorite Beaches in Guarujá

Google Map

One: Praia do Tombo:  This is our favorite beach for chill-relaxing.  It is also the closest beach to the Airbnb we stayed in, Guarujá.  It can get crowded, but it is still pretty chill.  The people here feel slightly older and more established.

Two: Pitangueiras Beach: This beach is where we head when we want a little more people watching and slightly more of a party beach.  This beach is for all ages but features more young people than the first one.  

Three: Praia da Enseada: This beach is the most crowded, and where people seem to go to party.  It is a sea of umbrellas.  

At all three beaches, chairs and umbrellas are free if you eat or drink from the pop-up restaurants.  Santos is a beach resort, so the people around you are in vacation mode.

Restaurants, Services, Markets

Guarujá

Restaurants ($1 USD is R5.34 Brazilian real (R)):

Guarujá

Beach & Bars

Guarujá

Services/Markets:

Santos

Restaurants, Bars  ($1 USD is R5.34 Brazilian real (R)):

Santos

Services/Markets: