Cape Town vs Cologne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Cologne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$1968
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$4619
🏠 One person rent	$681	$1091
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$1830
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$536
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$196
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$3266
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	56	91
😀 Quality of life	55	96
🏙️ Population	3.78M	1.09M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 37% less expensive than in Cologne. Cities ranked 4637th and 2104th ($1231 vs $1968) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 11th in South Africa and Germany, respectively. Check South Africa vs Germany 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 Cologne. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Cologne ranked 1st in Germany, while ranked 6312th and 23rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cape Town vs Cologne infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Cologne

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

	Cape Town	Cologne
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$71.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$5.26
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$4.06
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$3.38
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$1103
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$870
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$1997
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$1478
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$133
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$206
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$41.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	3.8%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$6855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$5848
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$3.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$67.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$2.03
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$2.03
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$2.87
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$4.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$14.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$12.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$23.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$3.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.05
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$2.17
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$4.63
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.73
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.77
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$2.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$7.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$1.14
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$9.05
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$8.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$2.45
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.93
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$1.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$40.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$13.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$54.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$98
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$773
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$19386

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 Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1759
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$2037
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1745
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1744
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1741
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1740
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1726
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1750
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1699
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1740
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1711
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1702
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1727
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1736
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1708
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1695
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1770
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1694
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1678
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1716
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1642
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1747
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1957
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1674
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1691
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1654
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1630
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1645
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1650
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1666
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1659
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1608
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1661
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1611
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1674
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1650
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1613
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1662
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1689
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1979