Cape Town vs Chennai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Chennai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$437
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$1065
🏠 One person rent	$681	$159
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$272
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$164
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$64.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$321
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	56	78
😀 Quality of life	55	65
🏙️ Population	3.78M	6.6M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 182% more expensive than in Chennai. Cities ranked 4637th and 8898th ($1231 vs $437) 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.7 months in Chennai. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Chennai ranked 5th in India, while ranked 6312th and 5272nd 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 Chennai infographic

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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	$11.5	$2.25
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$11.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$3.91
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.97
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$1.95
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.47
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$173
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$108
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$313
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$194
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$29.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$44.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$8.96
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	9.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$1914
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$746
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$11.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$3.73
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.59
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$0.49
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$0.73
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$0.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$6.55
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$3.48
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$6.62
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.96
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$0.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.38
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.42
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$0.49
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$0.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$9.05
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$1.94
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$3.82
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$0.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$3.47
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$0.78
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$15.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$2.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$31.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$2.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$25.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$50.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$70.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$1729

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 Chennai

Distance	City	Cost of living
111 km or 69 mi	Tirupati	$327
124 km or 77 mi	Vellore	$235
125 km or 78 mi	Chittoor	$291
138 km or 85 mi	Pondicherry	$327
153 km or 95 mi	Nellore	$535
159 km or 99 mi	Cuddalore	$300
198 km or 123 mi	Madanapalle	$327
219 km or 136 mi	Kadapa	$368
260 km or 162 mi	Proddatur	$367
269 km or 167 mi	Ongole	$334
279 km or 173 mi	Salem	$295
282 km or 175 mi	Thanjavur	$275
290 km or 180 mi	Bangalore	$524
304 km or 189 mi	Chirala	$304
305 km or 189 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
312 km or 194 mi	Hindupur	$341
328 km or 204 mi	Nandyal	$347
338 km or 210 mi	Anantapur	$345
339 km or 211 mi	Erode	$286
344 km or 214 mi	Tumkur	$355
353 km or 219 mi	Tenali	$290
354 km or 220 mi	Machilipatnam	$307
357 km or 222 mi	Guntur	$277
361 km or 224 mi	Tiruppur	$347
383 km or 238 mi	Vijayawada	$339
388 km or 241 mi	Kurnool	$345
396 km or 246 mi	Dindigul	$310
402 km or 250 mi	Mysore	$346
411 km or 256 mi	Eluru	$298
423 km or 263 mi	Madurai	$347
428 km or 266 mi	Coimbatore	$326
428 km or 266 mi	Adoni	$383
453 km or 282 mi	Nalgonda	$266
462 km or 287 mi	Rajahmundry	$301
463 km or 288 mi	Khammam	$265
474 km or 294 mi	Mahbubnagar	$353
476 km or 296 mi	Kakinada	$291
482 km or 300 mi	Hospet	$266
494 km or 307 mi	Davanagere	$295
509 km or 317 mi	Malappuram	$286