Asunción vs Santa Cruz de la Sierra
In short
Calculated from the figures below, with no overall “who wins” score.
Rent
✓in Santa Cruz cheaper — −42%
Family budget
✓in Santa Cruz cheaper — −35%
Internet
✓in Santa Cruz cheaper — −25%
In numbers
Exchange rate as of the date each figure was checked.
House or apartment rent
per monthAsunción≈ $763–1,020₲4.5–6M✓Santa Cruz de la Sierra≈ $342–700BOB 4,100–8,400cheaper by 42%Family groceries
per monthAsunción≈ $280₲1,650,472✓Santa Cruz de la Sierra≈ $208BOB 2,490cheaper by 26%Family budget
per monthAsunción≈ $633₲3,732,432✓Santa Cruz de la Sierra≈ $410BOB 4,917cheaper by 35%Internet
per monthAsunción≈ $25₲150k✓Santa Cruz de la Sierra≈ $19BOB 229cheaper by 25%Winter
averageAsunción18 °C18 °CSanta Cruz de la Sierra22 °C22 °CPrecipitation
per yearAsunción1,433 mm1,433 mmSanta Cruz de la Sierra1,372 mm1,372 mmReady-made house
purchaseAsunción$195–420k$195–420k✓Santa Cruz de la Sierra$87,900 – 180k$87,900 – 180kcheaper by 56%
By topic
A quick look at each city. Details and sources are on the city page.
Housing
Asunción
A 2–3 bedroom apartment in Villa Morra, Carmelitas or Recoleta is PYG 4.5–6 million a month, that is $770–1,020. Utilities on top.
SpecialistClasipar: apartments, houses and plots in Asunción, Lambaré and Fernando de la Mora · checked 28 Sep 2026
A house in Asunción is most often $195–420k, with the middle around $300k. In guaraní, in cheaper areas the same houses go for PYG 400–900 million, that is $68–153k.
SpecialistClasipar: apartments, houses and plots in Asunción, Lambaré and Fernando de la Mora · checked 28 Sep 2026
Lambaré and Fernando de la Mora are half the price of the city: a two-room apartment is PYG 2.5–4.5 million, that is $425–770. The price for this is the rush-hour drive.
SpecialistClasipar: apartments, houses and plots in Asunción, Lambaré and Fernando de la Mora · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
A three-bedroom house by listings costs 88-180 thousand dollars, median 123 thousand. In Urubó about 228 thousand, in the north of the city about 117 thousand.
SpecialistInfoCasas Bolivia: sale of three-bedroom houses in Santa Cruz · checked 6 Oct 2026
A three-bedroom apartment by listings costs 4100-8400 Bs a month, median about 5500 Bs (about 460 dollars at 11.97). Almost twice as much in Equipetrol.
SpecialistInfoCasas Bolivia: rental of three-bedroom apartments in Santa Cruz · checked 6 Oct 2026
Instead of renting you can give the owner a large sum for a term and live without paying: a three-bedroom apartment in anticrético is about 35-50 thousand dollars.
SpecialistInfoCasas Bolivia: three-bedroom apartments in anticrético in Santa Cruz · checked 6 Oct 2026
Money and prices
Asunción
The minimum food basket in the city is PYG 412,618 per person a month, for a family of four about 1.65 million, that is about $280.
SpecialistABC Color: INE data on monetary poverty for 2025, cost of baskets · checked 28 Sep 2026
The poverty line is PYG 933,108 per person, for a family of four 3.73 million without housing. With rent in a decent area, from 8–10 million.
SpecialistABC Color: INE data on monetary poverty for 2025, cost of baskets · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
A family of four in Santa Cruz is considered poor with an income below 4917 Bs a month (about 410 dollars). This is the lowest line among the cities in the INE table.
OfficialINE: poverty line and extreme poverty line per person per month by city, 2016 - December 2025 · checked 6 Oct 2026
The minimum food basket for a family of four in Santa Cruz is about 2490 Bs a month (about 210 dollars) by the INE extreme poverty line for December 2025.
OfficialINE: poverty line and extreme poverty line per person per month by city, 2016 - December 2025 · checked 6 Oct 2026
Family and kids
Asunción
Monthly fees at the well-known schools average PYG 3 million, above the minimum wage. For specific schools, from 2.19 to 4.26 million.
SpecialistEl Nacional: monthly fees at private schools in Asunción for the 2026 school year · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
In 2025 the department of Santa Cruz had 822 thousand students, about 104 thousand (12.6%) in private schools and kindergartens. Private school fees: not found.
OfficialINE with Ministry of Education data: students in public and private schools by department, 2011 - 2025 · checked 6 Oct 2026
Healthcare
Asunción
Asunción has private sanatoriums with paediatric cardiology, paediatric haematology, intensive care and their own diagnostics. Nationally beds are few: 1.04 per thousand people.
SpecialistSanatorio Migone Battilana: list of specialties · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
The department of Santa Cruz had 5131 hospital beds in 2024, about 691 inhabitants per bed. This is slightly worse than the national average (669).
OfficialINE with Ministry of Health data: hospital beds and inhabitants per bed by department, 2005 - 2024 · checked 6 Oct 2026
Transport
Asunción
A bus fare is PYG 2,300, with air conditioning 3,400 - about 40 and 58 cents. It is cheap because of the subsidy, but the quality is such that almost everyone in Asunción gets a car.
SpecialistABC Color: public transport fares in Greater Asunción and the size of the subsidy · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
INE names Viru Viru near Santa Cruz one of the three key international airports; the city also has El Trompillo. A highway runs to Cochabamba and La Paz.
OfficialINE: geographic information on Bolivia (roads and international airports) · checked 6 Oct 2026
Climate
Asunción
The average July temperature is 18.3 degrees, with an average daytime high of 24.2. There is no winter in the usual sense, but the station’s absolute minimum went down to minus 1.2.
OfficialDINAC: climatological table of Silvio Pettirossi airport, 2011-2023 data · checked 28 Sep 2026
The average January maximum is 33.8 degrees, December and February about 33. The station’s absolute maximum is 43 degrees, and it fell in October, not at the height of summer.
OfficialDINAC: climatological table of Silvio Pettirossi airport, 2011-2023 data · checked 28 Sep 2026
About 1,433 mm a year: a wet summer and a dry winter. The wettest month is November (203 mm), the driest August (25 mm), and 222 mm has fallen in a day.
OfficialDINAC: climatological table of Silvio Pettirossi airport, 2011-2023 data · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
About 1370 mm of precipitation a year, from 980 to 1740 mm in different years. The rainiest are December and January (about 180 mm), the driest is July (about 26 mm).
OfficialINE with SENAMHI data: mean temperature and precipitation by city by month, 1990 - 2026; annual tables by weather station, 2005 - 2024 · checked 6 Oct 2026
Winter is warm: the mean temperature in June-August is about 21.7 degrees. But the yearly absolute minimum at the city weather station is 2-9 degrees.
OfficialINE with SENAMHI data: mean temperature and precipitation by city by month, 1990 - 2026; annual tables by weather station, 2005 - 2024 · checked 6 Oct 2026
Safety
Asunción
Nationally in 2025 there were 6.1 homicides per 100k people - the third-best figure in Latin America. No separate statistics by district of Asunción could be found.
SpecialistLa Nación: Paraguay among the three countries in the region with the lowest homicide rate in 2025 · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
In 2024 police in the department of Santa Cruz got 15.6 thousand crime reports, 5.1 thousand on robberies. Homicide reports in 2023: 228, three times La Paz.
OfficialINE with police data: crime reports in the department of Santa Cruz by type, 2007 - 2024 · checked 6 Oct 2026
Internet and phone
Asunción
Fibre to the home: Personal Hogar plans start from 400 Mbit/s for PYG 150k a month, about $26. For remote work the conditions are good.
SpecialistPersonal Hogar: home fiber rates · checked 28 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
The state operator Entel sells home fiber at 200 Mbps for 229 Bs a month, 1000 Mbps for 450 Bs. Installation is 200 Bs, subject to an address check.
SpecialistEntel: home fiber internet, Simple plans · checked 6 Oct 2026
Services
Asunción
Since December 2024 the ANDE tariff depends on the hour: at peak, 12 to 16 and 18 to 22, a kilowatt-hour costs PYG 669 instead of the previous 404; off-peak, 264.
SpecialistABC Color: new ANDE tariff scheme, peak-hour rates 65% higher · checked 28 Sep 2026
Cooking is done on cylinder gas: a 10 kg cylinder costs PYG 110–125k ($19–21). About half of homes cook on gas, a third on electricity.
SpecialistLa Nación: gas price to rise by an average of 500 guaraníes per kg, the 10 kg cylinder to go up to 110,000 · checked 29 Sep 2026
ESSAP water: a fixed charge of PYG 8,236 and 1,767 per m³ up to 15 m³. A bill for 15 m³ is about 35k ($6), and sewerage adds the same again. The tariff dates from 2018.
SpecialistDiario HOY: ESSAP tariff rises from September, table of old and new prices by category · checked 29 Sep 2026
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Liquefied gas at a regulated price of 2.25 Bs per kg, a 10 kg cylinder is 22.50 Bs (under 2 dollars). We did not find the piped gas tariff.
OfficialANH: regulated prices of petroleum products on the domestic market, including liquefied gas (GLP) · checked 6 Oct 2026
The average residential tariff of the CRE cooperative in 2024 was 11 US cents per kWh without VAT, about 0.77 Bs. 300 kWh a month is about 230 Bs before tax.
OfficialAETN: statistical yearbook 2024, average tariff for the final consumer by category (CRE, Área Integrada) · checked 6 Oct 2026
The SAGUAPAC water utility received on average about 7 Bs per billed m³ in 2025. Only two thirds of residents in its area have sewerage.
OfficialSAGUAPAC: annual report (Memoria) for 2025 · checked 6 Oct 2026

