Cape Town vs Chongqing - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cape Town	Chongqing
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1366	$601
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3099	$1793
🏠 One person rent	$773	$205
🏘️ Family rent	$1343	$357
🍽️ Food expenses	$355	$229
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$77.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$404	$1018
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	55	76
😀 Quality of life	55	74
🏙️ Population	3.78M	32.1M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 127% more expensive than in Chongqing. Cities ranked 4432nd and 7933rd ($1366 vs $601) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 214th 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 1.7 months in Chongqing. Cape Town ranked 4th best city to live in South Africa vs Chongqing ranked 8th in China, while ranked 6382nd and 2353rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Chongqing

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

	Cape Town	Chongqing
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.5	$2.89
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.7	$21.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.71	$5.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.13	$1.12
☕ Cappuccino	$2.42	$2.46
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$0.44
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$874	$276
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$594	$149
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1556	$499
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1079	$267
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.1	$23.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$129	$36.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39	$7.25
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.25%	3.79%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2160	$2609
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1500	$1535
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.16	$0.29
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.7	$21.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.46	$3.73
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.12
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.56
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.21	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$0.62
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.91	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.29	$17.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.21	$3.16
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.46	$9.67
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$1.52
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.29
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.18
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.23
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.69
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$0.95
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.84	$0.95
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.59	$8.17
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.44	$2.86
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.94	$7.92
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.02	$4.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.12
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$2.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.6	$33.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.6	$5.74
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$39.1	$60.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$7.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.9	$44.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$68.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$264	$277
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5378	$24477

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	$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

Cities near Chongqing

Distance	City	Cost of living
97 km or 60 mi	Huaying	$581
103 km or 64 mi	Guang'an	$608
120 km or 75 mi	Longchang	$612
127 km or 79 mi	Luzhou	$600
140 km or 87 mi	Suining	$595
140 km or 87 mi	Neijiang	$679
145 km or 90 mi	Nanchong	$572
170 km or 106 mi	Zigong	$607
183 km or 113 mi	Shehong	$576
191 km or 119 mi	Ziyang	$628
194 km or 120 mi	Renhuai	$566
201 km or 125 mi	Yibin	$599
208 km or 129 mi	Dazhou	$612
209 km or 130 mi	Zunyi	$578
211 km or 131 mi	Jianyang	$621
232 km or 144 mi	Langzhong	$564
249 km or 154 mi	Lichuan	$582
258 km or 160 mi	Bazhong	$627
264 km or 164 mi	Meishan	$629
265 km or 165 mi	Chengdu	$666
266 km or 165 mi	Leshan	$595
266 km or 166 mi	Guanghan	$600
268 km or 167 mi	Deyang	$588
272 km or 169 mi	Mianyang	$540
277 km or 172 mi	Bijie	$591
285 km or 177 mi	Shifang	$584
292 km or 181 mi	Emeishan	$581
294 km or 183 mi	Pengzhou	$617
298 km or 185 mi	Enshi	$580
298 km or 185 mi	Mianzhu	$566
298 km or 185 mi	Chongzhou	$625
300 km or 186 mi	Jiangyou	$553
309 km or 192 mi	Qionglai	$611
316 km or 196 mi	Wanyuan	$594
320 km or 199 mi	Dujiangyan	$612
327 km or 203 mi	Guangyuan	$606
331 km or 206 mi	Guiyang	$576
331 km or 206 mi	Tongren	$588
342 km or 212 mi	Ya'an	$598
342 km or 213 mi	Jishou	$556