Amsterdam vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Amsterdam	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3165	$1386
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7127	$3160
🏠 One person rent	$2073	$775
🏘️ Family rent	$3318	$1348
🍽️ Food expenses	$659	$359
🚐 Transport expenses	$265	$139
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4747	$405
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	95	55
😀 Quality of life	95	58
🏙️ Population	921K	3.78M

The cost of living in Amsterdam is 128% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 138th and 4336th ($3165 vs $1386) 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 0.3 months in Cape Town. Amsterdam ranked 3rd best city to live in the Netherlands vs Cape Town ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 24th and 6134th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

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	$22	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$93	$48.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.6	$6.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.81	$3.03
☕ Cappuccino	$4.82	$2.47
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.06	$1.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2259	$942
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1723	$591
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3695	$1671
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2790	$1075
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$191	$72.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$296	$112
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$51.3	$41.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.65%	11.35%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$11141	$2325
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7428	$1508
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.92	$1.33
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$118	$37.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$32.8	$11
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.47	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.59	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.55	$1.2
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.84	$2.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.44	$2.97
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.4	$8.53
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$6.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.2	$8.45
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.13	$1.94
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$1.88
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.61	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.82	$2.09
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$1.6
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.56
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.16	$0.78
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.84	$1.77
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.7	$6.22
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.76	$1.47
🚬 Cigarette pack	$14.6	$3.38
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.06	$6.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.94	$3.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.19	$2.41
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.14	$1.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.6	$49.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.8	$9.14
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$44.1	$37.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$37.3	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$98	$58.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$124
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2748	$272
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$20104	$6197

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	$2185
18 km or 11 mi	Haarlem	$2755
21 km or 13 mi	IJmuiden	$2354
22 km or 14 mi	Almere	$2399
25 km or 16 mi	Zandvoort	$1865
26 km or 16 mi	Hilversum	$2564
26 km or 16 mi	Huizen	$2296
35 km or 22 mi	Langedijk	$2283
36 km or 22 mi	Utrecht	$2608
38 km or 23 mi	Leiden	$2389
38 km or 24 mi	Oegstgeest	$2307
40 km or 25 mi	Zeist	$2407
42 km or 26 mi	Lelystad	$1477
48 km or 30 mi	Leidschendam	$2365
49 km or 30 mi	Harderwijk	$2148
52 km or 32 mi	The Hague	$2491
53 km or 33 mi	Scheveningen	$2310
55 km or 34 mi	Delft	$2424
57 km or 36 mi	Dronten	$2026
59 km or 36 mi	Rotterdam	$2659
60 km or 37 mi	Veenendaal	$1805
61 km or 38 mi	Ridderkerk	$2336
64 km or 40 mi	Sliedrecht	$2234
64 km or 40 mi	Ede	$2053
65 km or 40 mi	Elburg	$2104
66 km or 41 mi	Tiel	$2662
67 km or 42 mi	Zaltbommel	$2304
70 km or 43 mi	Wageningen	$2341
72 km or 45 mi	Kampen	$2077
75 km or 47 mi	Apeldoorn	$2159
76 km or 47 mi	Texel	$2220
81 km or 50 mi	's-Hertogenbosch	$2272
82 km or 51 mi	Arnhem	$2253
83 km or 51 mi	Zwolle	$1942
83 km or 52 mi	Zwartewaterland	$2040
86 km or 54 mi	Deventer	$2082
89 km or 55 mi	Nijmegen	$2152
89 km or 55 mi	Sneek	$2166
89 km or 55 mi	Breda	$2112
91 km or 57 mi	Tilburg	$2247

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$1421
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$763
371 km or 231 mi	George	$877
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$968
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1020
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$796
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$863
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1033
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$904
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1390
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$773
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$611
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$660
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$953
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$811
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$991
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$872
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$903
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$945
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$691
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$691
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$742
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1031
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$994
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$723
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$663
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1204
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$912
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1040
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1104
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$938
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$998
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$893