Cape Town vs Dubai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Dubai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$2309
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$5128
🏠 One person rent	$603	$1523
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$2687
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$458
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$185
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$3493
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	55	64
😀 Quality of life	59	86
🏙️ Population	3.78M	3.33M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 51% less expensive than in Dubai. Cities ranked 4849th and 1098th ($1120 vs $2309) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd 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 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.5 months in Dubai. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Dubai ranked 1st in the United Arab Emirates, while ranked 5407th and 306th 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 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	$7.8	$10.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$70.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$9.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$12.1
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$6.12
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$1.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$1850
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$1170
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$3310
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$2171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$131
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$202
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$86
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	4.64%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$6006
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$3452
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$1.64
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$84.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$11.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$0.82
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.77
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$1.49
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.15
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$3.24
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$9.27
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$10
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.89
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.65
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.26
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.52
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.41
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$2.19
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$15.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$2.6
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$5.98
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$8.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$5.49
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$2.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$3.85
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$75.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$13.4
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$88.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$9.53
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$56.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$98.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$779
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$12682

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	$850
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$649
371 km or 231 mi	George	$790
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$901
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$970
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$741
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$792
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$953
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$859
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1286
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$703
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$581
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$627
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$862
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$774
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$832
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$788
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$809
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$779
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$692
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$690
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$717
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$971
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$943
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$718
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$654
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$874
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$840
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$997
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$834
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$818
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$790

Cities near Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1503
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$2084
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1768
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1232
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1603
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1050
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1802
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$728
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1630
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$994
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$786
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$1810
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1110
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1719
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$561
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$556
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$547
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$520
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1267
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1218
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1226
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$531
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$870
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$687
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$989
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$558
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$878
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$783
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$546
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$515
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$639
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$467
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$928
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$541
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$537
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$548
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$489
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$831
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$577
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$507