The twin-engine turboprop was flying from Cascavel in the southern state of Paraná to Guarulhos airport in São Paulo city when it came down in the town of Vinhedo, Voepass airline says.
Footage circulating on social media shows a plane descending vertically, spiraling as it falls, BBC reported.
The ATR 72-500 was carrying 57 passengers and four crew. Local authorities say there were no survivors.
Brazil's President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, expressed solidarity with the families and friends of the victims.
São Paulo's state Governor, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, declared three days of mourning.
The authorities said the flight recorders had been retrieved. ATR, the French-Italian plane maker, said it would cooperate with the investigation.
The plane landed in a residential area but no one on the ground was injured.
Officials say only one home in a local condominium complex was damaged.
It is Brazil's worst plane crash since 2007, when a TAM Express plane crashed and burst into flames at São Paulo's Congonhas airport, killing 199 people.
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