Adelaide vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Adelaide	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2338	$1366
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4797	$3099
🏠 One person rent	$1428	$773
🏘️ Family rent	$2032	$1343
🍽️ Food expenses	$589	$355
🚐 Transport expenses	$180	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3804	$404
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	50	55
😀 Quality of life	93	55
🏙️ Population	1.39M	3.78M

The cost of living in Adelaide is 71% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 1210th and 4432nd ($2338 vs $1366) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 9th and 2nd in Australia and South Africa, respectively. Check Australia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Adelaide compared to 0.3 months in Cape Town. Adelaide ranked 5th best city to live in Australia vs Cape Town ranked 4th in South Africa, while ranked 73rd and 6382nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Adelaide vs Cape Town

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

	Adelaide	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.9	$12.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$79.2	$49.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.5	$5.71
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.33	$3.13
☕ Cappuccino	$4.02	$2.42
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.76	$1.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1521	$874
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1196	$594
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2231	$1556
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1697	$1079
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$84.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$174	$129
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$53.2	$39
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.37%	11.25%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8511	$2160
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5565	$1500
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.19	$1.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.2	$32.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.7	$9.46
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.24	$1.36
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.68	$1.35
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.56	$1.21
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$2.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.2	$2.91
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$9.29
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.67	$6.21
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.7	$8.46
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$1.83
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.84	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.14	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$1.94
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$1.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$1.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$0.79
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.55	$1.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.6	$6.59
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.74	$1.49
🚬 Cigarette pack	$23	$3.44
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.16	$5.94
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.16	$4.02
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.61	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.49	$1.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$49.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.1	$8.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.6	$39.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.1	$11.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.5	$59.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$123	$127
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1013	$264
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8002	$5378

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Adelaide

Distance	City	Cost of living
253 km or 157 mi	Whyalla	$2128
337 km or 209 mi	Mildura	$1904
377 km or 235 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
518 km or 322 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
551 km or 342 mi	Bendigo	$1487
555 km or 345 mi	Ballarat	$1604
618 km or 384 mi	Melton	$1906
623 km or 387 mi	Sunbury	$1928
627 km or 390 mi	Geelong	$2217
633 km or 393 mi	Tarneit	$1822
636 km or 395 mi	Shepparton	$1815
637 km or 396 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
655 km or 407 mi	Melbourne	$2496
658 km or 409 mi	South Yarra	$1829
683 km or 424 mi	Dandenong	$1894
686 km or 426 mi	Griffith	$1824
686 km or 426 mi	Frankston	$1889
694 km or 431 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
695 km or 432 mi	Berwick	$1860
709 km or 440 mi	Pakenham	$1896
797 km or 496 mi	Traralgon	$1979
800 km or 497 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
959 km or 596 mi	Canberra	$2223
971 km or 603 mi	Devonport	$1898
974 km or 605 mi	Dubbo	$1867
985 km or 612 mi	Orange	$1477
1016 km or 631 mi	Goulburn	$1821
1025 km or 637 mi	Bathurst	$1699
1040 km or 646 mi	Launceston	$1753
1125 km or 699 mi	Wollongong	$1695
1138 km or 707 mi	Blacktown	$1710
1143 km or 710 mi	Kellyville	$2050
1146 km or 712 mi	Parramatta	$2482
1162 km or 722 mi	Hobart	$2308
1163 km or 723 mi	Sydney	$2844
1173 km or 729 mi	Dee Why	$2379
1234 km or 767 mi	Newcastle	$1997
1318 km or 819 mi	Armidale	$1288
1330 km or 826 mi	Alice Springs	$1590
1387 km or 862 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$1345
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$718
371 km or 231 mi	George	$927
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$980
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1036
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$811
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$874
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1050
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$927
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1419
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$795
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$763
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$630
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$681
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$952
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$573
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$826
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$986
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$604
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$875
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$826
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$901
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$791
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$934
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$697
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$694
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$865
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$765
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$716
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1057
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$1017
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$731
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$662
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1171
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$958
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1023
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1089
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$948
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$968
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$905