Brisbane vs Cape Town - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Brisbane	Cape Town
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2065	$1231
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4896	$2814
🏠 One person rent	$1253	$681
🏘️ Family rent	$2149	$1180
🍽️ Food expenses	$525	$322
🚐 Transport expenses	$152	$124
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3956	$352
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	66	56
😀 Quality of life	98	55
🏙️ Population	2.71M	3.78M

The cost of living in Brisbane is 68% more expensive than in Cape Town. Cities ranked 1813th and 4637th ($2065 vs $1231) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 3rd 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 5th in South Africa, while ranked 9th and 6312th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brisbane vs Cape Town infographic

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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	$14.4	$11.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$62.7	$46.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$5.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$3.66	$2.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.65	$1.24
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1514	$761
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1022	$513
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$1355
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1816	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.2	$75
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$125	$116
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.5	$43.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.15%	11.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8291	$1957
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6020	$1290
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.33	$1.15
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.8	$28.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.6	$10.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.41	$2.53
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$8.62
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.8	$5.36
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$7.75
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$1.73
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.93	$1.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.48	$1.32
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.41	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.85	$0.71
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.67
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.9	$5.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.28	$1.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.1	$3.18
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.9	$5.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$3.66
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.28	$2.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.35	$1.56
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.9	$43.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.8	$7.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.3	$37.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.2	$9.69
👖 Brand Jeans	$76.5	$56
👟 Brand Sneakers	$102	$120
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1795	$228
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11423	$4978

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	$1662
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1798
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2140
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2297
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1710
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1697
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1639
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1712
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1595
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1184
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1503
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1482
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1839
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1747
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2181
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$1888
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1599
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2292
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2640
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1568
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1364
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1580
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1678
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2019
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1667
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$1683
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1662
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1771
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1362
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$1813
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1768
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1725
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2308
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1706
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1681
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1736

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