Cape Town vs Dubai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Cape Town	Dubai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$2229
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2144	$5278
🏠 One person rent	$484	$1453
🏘️ Family rent	$966	$2877
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$455
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.2	$188
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1518	$3926
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	55	64
😀 Quality of life	60	88
🏙️ Population	434K	3.33M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 60% less expensive than in Dubai. Cities ranked 6078th and 1218th ($881 vs $2229) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, respectively. Check South Africa vs the United Arab Emirates comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Cape Town compared to 1.8 months in Dubai. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Dubai ranked 1st in the United Arab Emirates, while ranked 5406th and 189th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Dubai infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Dubai

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

	Cape Town	Dubai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.47	$9.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.2	$72
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$9.41
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.04	$12.1
☕ Cappuccino	$1.94	$6.06
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$1.23
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$536	$1742
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$353	$1101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1202	$3504
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$749	$2351
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.2	$131
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$203
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.2	$92.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	5.06%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1890	$4930
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$2984
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$1.74
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.8	$84.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.17	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$0.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$1.93
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$1.5
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.91
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.39	$3.44
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.96	$12.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$8.84
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$11.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2.21
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$1.95
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.02
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.43
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$2.16
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.51	$17.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$3.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.62	$5.84
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$6.93
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.76	$5.84
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.22	$3.12
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$4.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$81.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.42	$13.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.9	$67.5
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.3	$8.84
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$64.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.4	$95.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$172	$720
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4013	$14799

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	$773
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$632
371 km or 231 mi	George	$684
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$805
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$866
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$643
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$704
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$703
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$753
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$710
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$683
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$511
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$535
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$689
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$682
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$765
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$701
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$719
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$738
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$631
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$633
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$637
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$875
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$845
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$656
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$603
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$908
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$776
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$807
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$889
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$780
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$751
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$718

Cities near Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1612
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$1841
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1577
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1191
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1584
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1132
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1936
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$758
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1673
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$1164
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$787
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$1872
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1126
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1810
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$798
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$890
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$573
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$604
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1375
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1285
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1327
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$544
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$959
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$779
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$1005
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$606
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$868
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$768
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$604
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$530
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$672
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$457
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$910
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$621
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$606
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$646
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$561
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$822
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$575
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$541