Cape Town vs Dar es Salaam - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Dar es Salaam
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$811
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$2062
🏠 One person rent	$582	$423
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$748
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$225
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$106
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$323
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	56	44
😀 Quality of life	58	41
🏙️ Population	3.78M	4.72M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 32% more expensive than in Dar es Salaam. Cities ranked 5016th and 6399th ($1071 vs $811) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and Tanzania, respectively. Check South Africa vs Tanzania comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Dar es Salaam ranked 1st in Tanzania, while ranked 5491st and 6871st 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 Dar es Salaam infographic

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Dar es Salaam

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

	Cape Town	Dar es Salaam
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$2.93
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$20.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$7.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$1.13
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$2.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.4
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$427
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$325
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$1029
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$551
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$44.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$68.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$33
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	19.47%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$3163
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$5427
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.29
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$18.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$10.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.18
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$0.71
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$0.99
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$9.55
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$6.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$4.28
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.67
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.05
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.04
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.87
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.42
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.28
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$6.83
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$1.88
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$3.14
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$3.76
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.24
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.96
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$77.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$4.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$17.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$4.84
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$21.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$39.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$312
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$19371

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$552
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$523
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$486
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$545
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$580
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$502
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$561
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$638
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$408
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$760
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$461
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$589
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1105
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1506
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$525
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$541
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$500
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1100
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$566
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$625
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1150
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$522
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$872
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$483
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1465
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$490
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$493
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$748
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$587
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$602
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$492
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$605
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$457
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$562
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$648
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$558
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$648
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$650