Cape Town vs Cologne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Cologne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$1744
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$4212
🏠 One person rent	$582	$947
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$1673
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$491
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$3148
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	56	92
😀 Quality of life	58	96
🏙️ Population	3.78M	1.09M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 39% less expensive than in Cologne. Cities ranked 5016th and 2551st ($1071 vs $1744) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 24th 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 5491st and 12th 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	$8.4	$13.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$61.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$4.67
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$3.64
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$963
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$743
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$1902
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$1332
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$120
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$186
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$40.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	4.01%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$6163
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$5539
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$3.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$56.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$22.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.83
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$2.69
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$3.95
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$13.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$20.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.55
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$4.26
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$2.22
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$6.56
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$1.02
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$8.09
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$8.17
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$2.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$32.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$11.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$49.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$18.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$94.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$103
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$773
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$15595

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	$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 Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1578
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$1822
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1569
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1559
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1572
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1554
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1586
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1551
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1536
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1576
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1561
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1534
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1577
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1544
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1559
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1529
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1554
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1523
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1518
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1522
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1497
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1542
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1677
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1522
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1580
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1502
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1497
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1517
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1504
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1494
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1499
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1494
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1516
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1446
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1503
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1495
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1479
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1490
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1500
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772