Abu Dhabi vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1942	$1231
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4262	$2814
🏠 One person rent	$1271	$681
🏘️ Family rent	$2152	$1180
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$322
🚐 Transport expenses	$77.2	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3050	$352
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	53	56
😀 Quality of life	85	55
🏙️ Population	1.57M	3.78M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 58% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 2187th and 4637th ($1942 vs $1231) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 3rd in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 0.3 months in Cape Town. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Cape Town ranked 5th in South Africa, while ranked 443rd and 6312th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Cape Town infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/abu-dhabi/cape-town.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Cape Town infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/abu-dhabi/cape-town" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Cape Town

Prices for goods and services in Abu Dhabi and Cape Town are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Abu Dhabi	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.9	$11.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.6	$46.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.53	$5.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.7	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$2.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.34	$1.24
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1358	$761
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1002	$513
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2476	$1355
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1762	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.6	$75
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$116
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$43.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.01%	11.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5485	$1957
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12028	$1290
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$1.15
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$28.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.63	$10.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.97	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.63	$2.53
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$8.62
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.07	$5.36
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$7.75
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$1.73
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.32
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.71
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.41	$1.67
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$5.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.54	$1.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.29	$3.18
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.83	$5.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$3.66
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.73	$2.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.92	$1.56
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.4	$43.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$7.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.5	$37.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$9.69
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.4	$56
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$120
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$598	$228
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12663	$4978

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Abu Dhabi

Distance	City	Cost of living
117 km or 73 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2514
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1419
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1449
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2521
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1228
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1849
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1770
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$792
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1078
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1201
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1230
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1081
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$530
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$908
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1008
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$529
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$873
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$930
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$534
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$568
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$553
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$453
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$477
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$530
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$503
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$573
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$557
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$761
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$624
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$463
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1627
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$483

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$1243
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$666
371 km or 231 mi	George	$857
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$946
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1005
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$746
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$814
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$988
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$861
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1304
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$784
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$598
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$650
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$901
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$762
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$948
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$808
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$833
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$904
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$637
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$637
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$706
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$984
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$940
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$668
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$607
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$890
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$985
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$984
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$892
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$927
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$857