Cape Town vs Cologne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Cologne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$1851
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$4479
🏠 One person rent	$603	$1019
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$1819
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$510
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$3275
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	55	92
😀 Quality of life	59	97
🏙️ Population	3.78M	1.08M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 40% less expensive than in Cologne. Cities ranked 4849th and 2308th ($1120 vs $1851) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 19th in South Africa and Germany, respectively. Check South Africa vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.8 months in Cologne. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Cologne ranked 2nd in Germany, while ranked 5407th and 16th 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	$7.8	$14
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$61.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$10.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$4.71
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$3.81
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$2.9
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$1023
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$801
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$2061
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$1459
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$129
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$195
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$44
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$6540
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$5856
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$3.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$59.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$23.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.98
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.32
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$1.91
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.85
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$4.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$13.9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$19.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$2.84
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.21
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$4.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.74
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.71
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.57
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$2.34
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$6.37
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$1.07
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$8.82
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$8.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$2.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$1.86
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$1.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$32
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$12.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$51.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$19.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$103
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$822
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$16860

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	$850
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$649
371 km or 231 mi	George	$790
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$901
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$970
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$741
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$792
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$953
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$859
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1286
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$703
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$581
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$627
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$862
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$774
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$832
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$788
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$809
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$779
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$692
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$690
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$717
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$971
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$943
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$718
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$654
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$874
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$840
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$997
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$834
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$818
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$790

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1610
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$1947
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1636
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1529
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1638
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1576
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1557
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1593
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1577
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1647
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1620
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1563
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1634
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1586
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1612
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1580
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1606
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1566
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1582
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1572
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1530
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1594
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1765
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1578
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1652
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1564
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1493
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1558
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1569
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1531
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1567
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1415
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1571
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1453
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1550
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1566
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1527
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1548
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1542
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1861