Cape Town vs Dar es Salaam - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Dar es Salaam
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$799
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$2068
🏠 One person rent	$681	$363
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$605
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$244
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$130
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$288
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	56	45
😀 Quality of life	55	59
🏙️ Population	3.78M	4.72M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 54% more expensive than in Dar es Salaam. Cities ranked 4637th and 6675th ($1231 vs $799) 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Dar es Salaam ranked 1st in Tanzania, while ranked 6312th and 6017th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$11.5	$3.25
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$19.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.02
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$2.09
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$419
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$235
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$737
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$422
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$55.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$84.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$36.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	19.82%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$1361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$1189
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$15.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$14.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$0.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$2.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$9.75
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$5.96
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$4.42
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.73
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$0.97
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.1
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$0.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.32
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.3
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$6.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$0.98
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$2.14
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$3.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$1
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$87.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$5.52
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$17.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$5.61
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$22.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$40.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$435
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$17749

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 Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$609
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$567
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$421
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$552
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$596
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$526
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$548
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$533
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$612
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$420
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$811
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$495
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$460
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1207
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1511
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$527
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$549
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$503
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1207
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$565
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$656
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1168
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$543
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$935
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$528
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1624
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$511
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$496
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$888
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$592
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$623
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$493
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$654
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$458
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$582
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$687
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$578
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$688
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$687