Cape Town vs Chennai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Chennai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$430
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$1140
🏠 One person rent	$582	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$346
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$163
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$65.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$848
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	56	78
😀 Quality of life	58	66
🏙️ Population	3.78M	6.6M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 149% more expensive than in Chennai. Cities ranked 5016th and 8897th ($1071 vs $430) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 17th in South Africa and India, respectively. Check South Africa vs India comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 2 months in Chennai. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Chennai ranked 4th in India, while ranked 5491st and 4021st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Chennai infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/cape-town/chennai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs Chennai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/chennai" target="_blank">Cape Town vs Chennai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cape Town vs Chennai

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

	Cape Town	Chennai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$1.83
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$11.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$4.01
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$2.05
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$1.98
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$170
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$102
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$470
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$254
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$25.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$39
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$10.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	9.23%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$1935
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$767
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$3.84
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.18
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$0.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$0.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$0.75
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$0.91
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$7.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$3.47
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$6.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.69
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$0.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$0.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.53
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$8.67
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$1.78
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$0.82
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.03
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$18.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$2.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$31.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$2.73
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$26.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$48.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$80.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$1573

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$1147
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$619
371 km or 231 mi	George	$743
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$840
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$901
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$699
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$763
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$915
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$814
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1332
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$766
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$567
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$621
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$852
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$748
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$827
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$768
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$780
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$792
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$665
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$664
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$672
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$923
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$889
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$691
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$628
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$993
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$837
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$862
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$953
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$809
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$813
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$740

Cities near Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$315
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$258
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$354
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$360
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$514
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$306
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$346
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$367
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$355
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$338
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$304
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$302
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$533
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$311
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$314
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$375
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$359
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$304
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$295
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$351
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$292
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$316
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$280
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$300
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$354
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$349
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$316
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$311
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$304
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$310
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$339
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$366
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$298
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$330
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$272
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$357
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$307
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$272
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$292
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$306