Al Ain vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Al Ain	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1844	$1071
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5338	$2522
🏠 One person rent	$1325	$582
🏘️ Family rent	$3717	$1083
🍽️ Food expenses	$349	$273
🚐 Transport expenses	$57.1	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3607	$1532
😷 Air quality	Bad	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	38	56
😀 Quality of life	75	58
🏙️ Population	767K	3.78M

The cost of living in Al Ain is 72% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 2271st and 5016th ($1844 vs $1071) 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 2 months in Al Ain compared to 1.4 months in Cape Town. Al Ain ranked 5th best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Cape Town ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 1000th and 5491st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Al Ain vs Cape Town infographic

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

Prices in Al Ain vs Cape Town

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

	Al Ain	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.12	$8.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$32.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.64	$4.87
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.46	$2.58
☕ Cappuccino	$5.02	$2.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.61	$1.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$668	$677
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1309	$435
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4401	$1304
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3318	$863
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.3	$59.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$93.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$76.1	$38.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.33%	11.89%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2055	$1804
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1218	$1180
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$39
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.44	$8.47
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$1.08
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.05	$1.03
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.48
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.72	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$8.33
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.08	$5.42
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.86	$7.24
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$1.53
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.45
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.57
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.33
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$1.13
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.36	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.43
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$5.48
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.67	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.16	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.19	$4.02
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.1	$3.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$34.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.4	$6.22
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$64.6	$35.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$8.05
👖 Brand Jeans	$32.4	$51
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.2	$104
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$640	$204
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3802	$4806

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Al Ain

Distance	City	Cost of living
119 km or 74 mi	Fujairah	$1239
126 km or 78 mi	Dubai	$2379
133 km or 82 mi	Sharjah	$1494
135 km or 84 mi	Ajman	$2240
143 km or 89 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
152 km or 94 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
192 km or 119 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
221 km or 138 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
231 km or 143 mi	Nizwa	$780
253 km or 157 mi	Seeb	$967
297 km or 184 mi	Muscat	$1090
337 km or 209 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
442 km or 275 mi	Doha	$1779
458 km or 284 mi	Al Khor	$1709
507 km or 315 mi	Chabahar	$585
525 km or 326 mi	Jahrom	$547
535 km or 333 mi	Jiroft	$518
564 km or 351 mi	Riffa	$1223
565 km or 351 mi	Manama	$1280
566 km or 352 mi	Fasa	$548
567 km or 352 mi	Isa Town	$1243
583 km or 362 mi	Sirjan	$514
596 km or 371 mi	Iranshahr	$605
604 km or 375 mi	Bam	$515
607 km or 377 mi	Dhahran	$1068
619 km or 385 mi	Dammam	$1056
629 km or 391 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
649 km or 404 mi	Qatif	$897
679 km or 422 mi	Shiraz	$589
684 km or 425 mi	Jubail	$901
688 km or 428 mi	Kerman	$464
689 km or 428 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
694 km or 431 mi	Marvdasht	$563
720 km or 447 mi	Bushehr	$551
720 km or 447 mi	Borazjan	$546
726 km or 451 mi	Kazerun	$557
776 km or 482 mi	Zahedan	$829
818 km or 508 mi	Salalah	$809
827 km or 514 mi	Yasuj	$529
866 km or 538 mi	Yazd	$573

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$1147
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$619
371 km or 231 mi	George	$743
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$840
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$901
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$699
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$763
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$915
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$814
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1332
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$766
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$567
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$621
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$852
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$748
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$827
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$768
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$780
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$792
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$665
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$664
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$672
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$923
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$889
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$691
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$628
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$993
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$837
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$862
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$953
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$809
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$813
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$740