Asmara vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Asmara	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$533	$1231
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1268	$2814
🏠 One person rent	$227	$681
🏘️ Family rent	$385	$1180
🍽️ Food expenses	$208	$322
🚐 Transport expenses	$46.8	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$112	$352
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	8	56
😀 Quality of life	14	55
🏙️ Population	963K	3.78M

The cost of living in Asmara is 57% less expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 8435th and 4637th ($533 vs $1231) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in Eritrea and South Africa, respectively. Check Eritrea vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Asmara compared to 0.3 months in Cape Town. Asmara ranked 1st best city to live in Eritrea vs Cape Town ranked 5th in South Africa, while ranked 9205th and 6312th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Asmara vs Cape Town infographic

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Prices in Asmara vs Cape Town

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

	Asmara	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.14	$11.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$20.2	$46.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.7	$5.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.82	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$1.88	$2.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.5	$1.24
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$220	$761
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$148	$513
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$400	$1355
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$274	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.7	$75
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$58.7	$116
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27	$43.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.74%	11.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1543	$1957
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$940	$1290
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.33	$1.15
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.7	$28.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.01	$10.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.03	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.63	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.59	$2.53
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.14	$8.62
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$5.36
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.88	$7.75
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.26	$1.73
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$1.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.32
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.33	$0.71
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.1	$1.67
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.77	$5.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.48	$1.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.81	$3.18
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.27	$5.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.77	$3.66
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.5	$2.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.19	$1.56
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.1	$43.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.19	$7.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14.7	$37.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.2	$9.69
👖 Brand Jeans	$26.7	$56
👟 Brand Sneakers	$62.2	$120
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$84.4	$228
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3125	$4978

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Asmara

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Mendefera	$498
63 km or 39 mi	Massawa	$499
71 km or 44 mi	Keren	$500
214 km or 133 mi	Mekelle	$826
270 km or 168 mi	Kassala	$971
342 km or 212 mi	Gondar	$1016
407 km or 253 mi	El-Gadarif	$925
437 km or 272 mi	Al Hudaydah	$522
448 km or 279 mi	Bahir Dar	$864
473 km or 294 mi	Dessie	$1039
490 km or 304 mi	Zabid	$499
498 km or 310 mi	Abha	$911
509 km or 316 mi	Port Sudan	$964
513 km or 319 mi	Bareq	$903
548 km or 340 mi	Sa'dah	$498
567 km or 352 mi	Sanaa	$560
580 km or 361 mi	Sayyan	$498
583 km or 362 mi	Taiz	$522
585 km or 363 mi	Ibb	$512
589 km or 366 mi	Atbara	$1116
596 km or 370 mi	Dhamar	$500
600 km or 373 mi	Dikhil	$559
602 km or 374 mi	Obock	$560
606 km or 376 mi	Najran	$860
618 km or 384 mi	Djibouti City	$586
620 km or 385 mi	Ali Sabieh	$557
633 km or 393 mi	Ad-Damazin	$829
649 km or 403 mi	Bisha	$918
674 km or 419 mi	Khartoum North	$879
684 km or 425 mi	Mecca	$1162
685 km or 426 mi	Khartoum	$896
691 km or 429 mi	Jeddah	$1155
693 km or 430 mi	Omdurman	$910
701 km or 436 mi	Addis Ababa	$1289
715 km or 444 mi	Dire Dawa	$1175
715 km or 444 mi	Kosti	$857
717 km or 446 mi	Aden	$517
755 km or 469 mi	Harar	$1175
758 km or 471 mi	Borama	$502
788 km or 489 mi	Jijiga	$1169

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$1243
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$666
371 km or 231 mi	George	$857
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$946
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1005
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$746
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$814
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$988
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$861
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1304
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$784
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$598
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$650
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$901
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$762
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$948
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$808
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$833
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$904
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$637
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$637
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$706
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$984
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$940
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$668
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$607
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$890
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$985
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$984
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$892
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$927
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$857