Amsterdam vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Amsterdam	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2545	$881
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5759	$2144
🏠 One person rent	$1649	$484
🏘️ Family rent	$2742	$966
🍽️ Food expenses	$538	$259
🚐 Transport expenses	$217	$56.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3788	$1518
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	95	55
😀 Quality of life	94	60
🏙️ Population	921K	434K

The cost of living in Amsterdam is 189% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 612th and 6078th ($2545 vs $881) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in the Netherlands and South Africa, respectively. Check the Netherlands vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Amsterdam compared to 1.7 months in Cape Town. Amsterdam ranked 1st best city to live in the Netherlands vs Cape Town ranked 3rd in South Africa, while ranked 37th and 5406th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Amsterdam vs Cape Town infographic

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Prices in Amsterdam vs Cape Town

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

	Amsterdam	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.4	$7.47
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$77.4	$31.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.6	$4.87
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.35	$2.04
☕ Cappuccino	$4.1	$1.94
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.18	$0.86
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1693	$536
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1379	$353
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2979	$1202
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2298	$749
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$56.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$260	$87
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$48.3	$39.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.88%	11.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9157	$1890
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5939	$1307
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.61	$1.04
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$90.9	$34.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27.3	$7.17
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.1	$1.22
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.01	$0.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$1.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.73	$2.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$7.96
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$5.26
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.4
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.39
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.3	$1.39
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.49	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.3	$1.3
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.94	$4.51
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$1.14
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.1	$2.62
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.93	$4.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.53	$2.76
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.21	$2.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.38	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50.6	$31.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$5.42
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$41.1	$32.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.9	$10.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$83.1	$42.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93	$81.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1976	$172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10734	$4013

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Amsterdam

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.8 mi	Purmerend	$2001
18 km or 11 mi	Haarlem	$2465
21 km or 13 mi	IJmuiden	$2092
22 km or 14 mi	Almere	$1647
25 km or 16 mi	Zandvoort	$2135
26 km or 16 mi	Hilversum	$1894
26 km or 16 mi	Huizen	$1897
35 km or 22 mi	Langedijk	$1958
36 km or 22 mi	Utrecht	$2055
38 km or 23 mi	Leiden	$2205
38 km or 24 mi	Oegstgeest	$2000
40 km or 25 mi	Zeist	$1939
42 km or 26 mi	Lelystad	$1501
48 km or 30 mi	Leidschendam	$1850
49 km or 30 mi	Harderwijk	$1796
52 km or 32 mi	The Hague	$1886
53 km or 33 mi	Scheveningen	$1836
55 km or 34 mi	Delft	$1804
57 km or 36 mi	Dronten	$1729
59 km or 36 mi	Rotterdam	$2013
60 km or 37 mi	Veenendaal	$1841
61 km or 38 mi	Ridderkerk	$1890
64 km or 40 mi	Sliedrecht	$1873
64 km or 40 mi	Ede	$1818
65 km or 40 mi	Elburg	$1793
66 km or 41 mi	Tiel	$1919
67 km or 42 mi	Zaltbommel	$1877
70 km or 43 mi	Wageningen	$1756
72 km or 45 mi	Kampen	$1770
75 km or 47 mi	Apeldoorn	$1942
76 km or 47 mi	Texel	$1864
81 km or 50 mi	's-Hertogenbosch	$1876
82 km or 51 mi	Arnhem	$1697
83 km or 51 mi	Zwolle	$1725
83 km or 52 mi	Zwartewaterland	$1761
86 km or 54 mi	Deventer	$1901
89 km or 55 mi	Nijmegen	$1746
89 km or 55 mi	Sneek	$1734
89 km or 55 mi	Breda	$1822
91 km or 57 mi	Tilburg	$1833

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$773
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$632
371 km or 231 mi	George	$684
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$805
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$866
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$643
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$704
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$703
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$753
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$710
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$683
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$511
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$535
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$689
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$682
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$765
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$701
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$719
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$738
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$631
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$633
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$637
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$875
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$845
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$656
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$603
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$908
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$776
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$807
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$889
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$780
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$751
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$718