Barcelona vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Barcelona	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2116	$1366
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4761	$3099
🏠 One person rent	$1285	$773
🏘️ Family rent	$2102	$1343
🍽️ Food expenses	$515	$355
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2516	$404
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	98	55
😀 Quality of life	90	55
🏙️ Population	1.73M	3.78M

The cost of living in Barcelona is 55% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 1722nd and 4432nd ($2116 vs $1366) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in Spain and South Africa, respectively. Check Spain vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Barcelona compared to 0.3 months in Cape Town. Barcelona ranked 2nd best city to live in Spain vs Cape Town ranked 4th in South Africa, while ranked 205th and 6382nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Barcelona vs Cape Town

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

	Barcelona	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.8	$12.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$64.9	$49.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.1	$5.71
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.02	$3.13
☕ Cappuccino	$3.26	$2.42
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.73	$1.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1395	$874
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1073	$594
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2392	$1556
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1768	$1079
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$84.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$173	$129
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$36.2	$39
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.08%	11.25%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7050	$2160
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4924	$1500
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.17	$1.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.4	$32.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.3	$9.46
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.8	$1.36
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.29	$1.35
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.7	$1.21
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$2.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.24	$2.91
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.4	$9.29
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.59	$6.21
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.2	$8.46
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$1.83
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.35	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.85	$1.94
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$1.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.79
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.49	$1.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.46	$6.59
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.43	$1.49
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.25	$3.44
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.65	$5.94
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.57	$4.02
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.07	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.88	$1.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.7	$49.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.8	$8.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$73	$39.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$20	$11.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$92.6	$59.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$119	$127
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$777	$264
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16675	$5378

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Barcelona

Distance	City	Cost of living
7 km or 4.4 mi	L'Hospitalet de Llobregat	$1812
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Badalona	$2155
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Cornella de Llobregat	$1656
12 km or 7.5 mi	Sant Boi de Llobregat	$1603
13 km or 8 mi	Ripollet	$1708
17 km or 11 mi	Rubi	$1580
19 km or 12 mi	Sabadell	$1685
24 km or 15 mi	Terrassa	$1473
27 km or 17 mi	Granollers	$1623
28 km or 18 mi	Mataro	$1609
42 km or 26 mi	Vilanova i la Geltru	$1478
48 km or 30 mi	Manresa	$1210
61 km or 38 mi	Vic	$1161
65 km or 40 mi	Lloret de Mar	$1367
83 km or 52 mi	Tarragona	$1531
85 km or 53 mi	Girona	$1741
117 km or 73 mi	Figueres	$1550
131 km or 81 mi	Lleida	$1264
136 km or 85 mi	Andorra la Vella	$1878
141 km or 88 mi	Ordino	$1877
158 km or 98 mi	Perpignan	$1390
176 km or 109 mi	Vinaros	$1493
206 km or 128 mi	Palma de Mallorca	$2000
208 km or 129 mi	Ciutadella de Menorca	$1645
212 km or 131 mi	Narbonne	$1230
230 km or 143 mi	Huesca	$1201
234 km or 145 mi	Beziers	$1509
242 km or 150 mi	Mahon	$1659
245 km or 152 mi	Castellon de la Plana	$1215
247 km or 154 mi	Castres	$1585
250 km or 156 mi	Villarreal	$1267
253 km or 157 mi	Borriana	$1296
254 km or 158 mi	Toulouse	$1709
257 km or 159 mi	Zaragoza	$1471
269 km or 167 mi	Tarbes	$1569
281 km or 174 mi	Sagunto	$1415
282 km or 175 mi	Ibiza	$2879
284 km or 177 mi	Montpellier	$1663
299 km or 186 mi	Pau	$1347
303 km or 189 mi	Valencia	$1797

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