Birmingham vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Birmingham	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2137	$1231
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5026	$2814
🏠 One person rent	$1237	$681
🏘️ Family rent	$1974	$1180
🍽️ Food expenses	$535	$322
🚐 Transport expenses	$198	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3365	$352
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	95	56
😀 Quality of life	95	55
🏙️ Population	1.14M	3.78M

The cost of living in Birmingham is 74% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 1622nd and 4637th ($2137 vs $1231) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 65th and 3rd in the United Kingdom and South Africa, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Birmingham compared to 0.3 months in Cape Town. Birmingham ranked 2nd best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Cape Town ranked 5th in South Africa, while ranked 48th and 6312th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Birmingham vs Cape Town infographic

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Prices in Birmingham vs Cape Town

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

	Birmingham	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.5	$11.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.2	$46.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.92	$5.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.83	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$4.58	$2.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.31	$1.24
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1226	$761
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$939	$513
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2079	$1355
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1511	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$200	$75
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$310	$116
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.8	$43.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.57%	11.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5209	$1957
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3967	$1290
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.44	$1.15
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$88.6	$28.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.9	$10.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.93	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.77	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.64	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.43	$2.53
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$8.62
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.74	$5.36
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$7.75
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$1.73
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.15	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.32
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.05	$0.71
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.27	$1.67
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.3	$5.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.51	$1.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$19.5	$3.18
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$5.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.77	$3.66
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.72	$2.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.97	$1.56
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$35.8	$43.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$7.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$110	$37.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.1	$9.69
👖 Brand Jeans	$92.1	$56
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$120
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1583	$228
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18334	$4978

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Birmingham

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.7 km or 2.9 mi	Smethwick	$1933
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	West Bromwich	$1892
11 km or 6.6 mi	Halesowen	$1866
12 km or 7.2 mi	Solihull	$1940
12 km or 7.6 mi	Walsall	$1787
14 km or 8.7 mi	Dudley	$1745
14 km or 8.7 mi	Aldridge	$1830
15 km or 9.6 mi	Willenhall	$1812
17 km or 10 mi	Stourbridge	$1818
19 km or 12 mi	Wolverhampton	$1775
19 km or 12 mi	Bromsgrove	$1847
20 km or 12 mi	Redditch	$1716
22 km or 14 mi	Tamworth	$1840
25 km or 15 mi	Cannock	$1835
26 km or 16 mi	Kidderminster	$1853
27 km or 17 mi	Coventry	$2051
30 km or 19 mi	Nuneaton	$1608
31 km or 19 mi	Warwick	$1951
32 km or 20 mi	Leamington Spa	$2134
35 km or 22 mi	Stratford-upon-Avon	$1890
37 km or 23 mi	Hinckley	$1790
39 km or 24 mi	Worcester	$1696
39 km or 24 mi	Stafford	$1851
40 km or 25 mi	Burton upon Trent	$1768
43 km or 27 mi	Telford	$1612
45 km or 28 mi	Rugby	$1709
55 km or 34 mi	Leicester	$1899
57 km or 35 mi	Derby	$1658
57 km or 35 mi	Loughborough	$1849
60 km or 37 mi	Banbury	$1795
61 km or 38 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1633
63 km or 39 mi	Shrewsbury	$1728
63 km or 39 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1484
66 km or 41 mi	Cheltenham	$1827
66 km or 41 mi	Market Harborough	$1902
70 km or 44 mi	Leek	$1783
72 km or 45 mi	Gloucester	$1900
73 km or 45 mi	Hereford	$1885
73 km or 46 mi	Nottingham	$1831
73 km or 46 mi	Northampton	$1901

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