Cape Town vs Dongguan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Dongguan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$656
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$1973
🏠 One person rent	$582	$250
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$527
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$232
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$84
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$742
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	46 km
🎓 Higher education	56	69
😀 Quality of life	58	69
🏙️ Population	3.78M	10.5M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 63% more expensive than in Dongguan. Cities ranked 5016th and 7169th ($1071 vs $656) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 97th in South Africa and China, respectively. Check South Africa vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.1 months in Dongguan. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Dongguan ranked 16th in China, while ranked 5491st and 2941st 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 Dongguan infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Dongguan

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

	Cape Town	Dongguan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$2.41
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$21.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$4.24
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$0.9
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$2.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.43
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$319
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$171
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$659
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$406
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$37.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$57.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$12.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	4.08%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$5615
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$3422
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$24.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$4.16
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.61
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$0.99
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$13.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$4.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$11.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.91
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.31
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.76
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.03
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.97
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$1.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$0.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$4.79
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$6.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.57
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$62.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$6.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$48.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$7.17
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$39.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$65.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$489
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$20945

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 Dongguan

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Guangzhou	$774
65 km or 40 mi	Shenzhen	$916
66 km or 41 mi	Foshan	$611
68 km or 43 mi	Huizhou	$601
70 km or 44 mi	Zhongshan	$461
86 km or 53 mi	Jiangmen	$804
88 km or 54 mi	Zhuhai	$653
93 km or 58 mi	Kowloon	$2432
95 km or 59 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
100 km or 62 mi	Macau	$1588
100 km or 62 mi	Qingyuan	$794
124 km or 77 mi	Heyuan	$764
132 km or 82 mi	Kaiping	$812
133 km or 83 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
165 km or 103 mi	Shanwei	$936
176 km or 109 mi	Yunfu	$823
196 km or 122 mi	Shaoguan	$818
226 km or 141 mi	Yangjiang	$877
239 km or 148 mi	Lianzhou	$755
249 km or 155 mi	Puning	$569
253 km or 157 mi	Wuzhou	$803
271 km or 168 mi	Hezhou	$758
273 km or 170 mi	Jieyang	$443
279 km or 173 mi	Meizhou	$655
302 km or 188 mi	Chaozhou	$451
303 km or 188 mi	Shantou	$581
315 km or 195 mi	Chenzhou	$724
323 km or 201 mi	Gaozhou	$761
329 km or 205 mi	Maoming	$756
332 km or 206 mi	Ganzhou	$761
372 km or 231 mi	Yulin	$771
401 km or 249 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
403 km or 250 mi	Longyan	$649
424 km or 263 mi	Guigang	$702
430 km or 267 mi	Guilin	$522
430 km or 267 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
437 km or 271 mi	Yongzhou	$609
444 km or 276 mi	Hengyang	$590
464 km or 288 mi	Liuzhou	$579
467 km or 290 mi	Laibin	$598