Cape Town vs Changsha - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Changsha
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$592
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$1571
🏠 One person rent	$681	$202
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$346
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$236
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$66.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$869
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	56	95
😀 Quality of life	55	72
🏙️ Population	3.78M	10M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 108% more expensive than in Changsha. Cities ranked 4637th and 7882nd ($1231 vs $592) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 200th in South Africa and China, respectively. Check South Africa vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.5 months in Changsha. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Changsha ranked 19th in China, while ranked 6312th and 3381st among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Changsha infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Changsha

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

	Cape Town	Changsha
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$2.78
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$21
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$4.91
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$2.81
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$188
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$154
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$338
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$279
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$26.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$41
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$14.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	3.64%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$2162
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$3816
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$14
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$3.49
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.95
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$2.33
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$0.85
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$1.72
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$3.17
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$9.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.89
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.86
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$0.93
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.26
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$0.94
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$12.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$0.94
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$2.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$4.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$5.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$0.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$1.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$58.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$5.91
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$21.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$3.06
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$85
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$83.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$322
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$7438

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Changsha

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Xiangtan	$527
43 km or 27 mi	Ningxiang	$569
43 km or 27 mi	Zhuzhou	$595
76 km or 47 mi	Yiyang	$571
79 km or 49 mi	Liling	$584
107 km or 66 mi	Pingxiang	$612
108 km or 67 mi	Loudi	$584
131 km or 81 mi	Yueyang	$595
140 km or 87 mi	Lianyuan	$564
145 km or 90 mi	Yichun	$618
149 km or 93 mi	Linxiang	$572
150 km or 93 mi	Hengyang	$622
157 km or 97 mi	Changde	$487
162 km or 101 mi	Lengshuijiang	$551
178 km or 111 mi	Shishou	$547
182 km or 113 mi	Shaoyang	$603
186 km or 116 mi	Honghu	$587
192 km or 119 mi	Jinshi	$511
197 km or 122 mi	Xinyu	$593
198 km or 123 mi	Chibi	$590
225 km or 140 mi	Xianning	$625
231 km or 144 mi	Ji'an	$660
237 km or 147 mi	Yongzhou	$634
246 km or 153 mi	Xiantao	$599
247 km or 153 mi	Jingzhou	$596
249 km or 155 mi	Songzi	$548
264 km or 164 mi	Zhangjiajie	$545
267 km or 166 mi	Chenzhou	$750
285 km or 177 mi	Yidu	$534
285 km or 177 mi	Hanchuan	$609
287 km or 178 mi	Daye	$638
290 km or 180 mi	Nanchang	$526
295 km or 183 mi	Wuhan	$639
299 km or 186 mi	Huangshi	$671
305 km or 189 mi	Huaihua	$571
307 km or 191 mi	Ezhou	$632
311 km or 193 mi	Yingcheng	$585
311 km or 193 mi	Huanggang	$646
311 km or 193 mi	Wuxue	$598
314 km or 195 mi	Dangyang	$546