Brisbane vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Brisbane	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2269	$1366
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5424	$3099
🏠 One person rent	$1398	$773
🏘️ Family rent	$2462	$1343
🍽️ Food expenses	$574	$355
🚐 Transport expenses	$151	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4258	$404
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	66	55
😀 Quality of life	98	55
🏙️ Population	2.71M	3.78M

The cost of living in Brisbane is 66% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 1349th and 4432nd ($2269 vs $1366) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 2nd in Australia and South Africa, respectively. Check Australia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Brisbane compared to 0.3 months in Cape Town. Brisbane ranked 3rd best city to live in Australia vs Cape Town ranked 4th in South Africa, while ranked 3rd 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 Brisbane vs Cape Town

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

	Brisbane	Cape Town
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$12.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68.3	$49.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.8	$5.71
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.04	$3.13
☕ Cappuccino	$4.09	$2.42
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.89	$1.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1660	$874
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1147	$594
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3002	$1556
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2079	$1079
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$94.2	$84.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$129
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54.2	$39
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.78%	11.25%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7935	$2160
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5145	$1500
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.36	$1.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.8	$32.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19	$9.46
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.36
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$1.35
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.28	$1.21
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$2.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.95	$2.91
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.35	$9.29
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.06	$6.21
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$8.46
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.73	$1.83
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.1	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.11	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.91	$1.94
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$1.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$0.79
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.83	$1.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14	$6.59
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.89	$1.49
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.1	$3.44
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.94	$5.94
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.16	$4.02
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.47	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.57	$1.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48	$49.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$8.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.1	$39.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.8	$11.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$81.5	$59.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$112	$127
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1949	$264
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12459	$5378

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brisbane

Distance	City	Cost of living
31 km or 19 mi	Ipswich	$1813
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1988
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2352
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2528
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1864
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1288
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1640
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1997
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1867
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2379
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$2050
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1710
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2482
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2844
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1699
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1477
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1695
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1821
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2223
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1824
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$1839
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1815
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1904
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1487
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$1979
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1928
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1896
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2496
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1860
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1829
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1894

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