Originally Posted by
embraer
If you don't mind commuting, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, and Florianopolis are all great large cities to live in with half the cost of living of Sao Paulo.
If you want to stay in the SP area without the high costs then Santos is always an option...plus you get to live on the beach 
A few years a go ,maybe you were right with this statement , but they found large oil areas at the ocean near Santos and the costs rising like hell.almost the same than Sao Paulo.
Is not easy the way from Santos to Sao Paulo.
Generally ,in normal traffic condition's you will take 1hour 30min to arrive in Sao Paulo .on rush hour more than 2:30 ,and weekends and holidays some times more than 5 hours to ride 100km.