Abu Dhabi vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Abu Dhabi	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1802	$1120
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4691	$2628
🏠 One person rent	$1140	$603
🏘️ Family rent	$2569	$1117
🍽️ Food expenses	$442	$284
🚐 Transport expenses	$69.3	$137
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3906	$1545
😷 Air quality	Bad	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	52	55
😀 Quality of life	83	59
🏙️ Population	1.48M	3.78M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 61% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 2486th and 4849th ($1802 vs $1120) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd 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 2.2 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.4 months in Cape Town. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Cape Town ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 405th and 5407th 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	$7.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.3	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.62	$5.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.9	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$5.81	$2.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.09	$1.04
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1179	$705
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$880	$452
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2759	$1367
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2207	$889
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.9	$59
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$147	$91.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$104	$41.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.18%	11.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4957	$1902
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4315	$1292
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.67	$1.14
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$24.7	$45.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.28	$8.91
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.8	$1.36
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.79	$1.1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.34	$1.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$1.53
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.07	$2.67
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.41	$8.88
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.83	$5.96
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$7.13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.58
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.51
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.64
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.53
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.35
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.6	$5.57
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.21	$1.42
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.21	$2.99
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.61	$4.24
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.03	$3.42
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.83	$2.24
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.95	$1.59
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$66.9	$36.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.7	$6.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$90.5	$38.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$67.3	$52.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$103
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$667	$201
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12787	$4270

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	$1630
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2309
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1503
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1050
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2084
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1768
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1232
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1603
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1810
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1719
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$728
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$786
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$994
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1218
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1267
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1226
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1110
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$561
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$870
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$989
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$783
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$556
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$878
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$928
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$520
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$547
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$558
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$548
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$541
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$546
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$537
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$687
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$531
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$515
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$467
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$639
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$489
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1586
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1268
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$507

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$850
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$649
371 km or 231 mi	George	$790
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$901
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$970
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$741
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$792
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$953
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$859
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1286
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$703
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$581
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$627
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$862
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$774
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$832
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$788
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$809
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$779
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$692
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$690
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$717
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$971
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$943
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$718
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$654
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$874
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$840
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$997
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$834
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$818
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$790