Cape Town vs Dubai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Dubai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$2379
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$5357
🏠 One person rent	$582	$1601
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$2918
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$453
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$186
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$3975
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	56	65
😀 Quality of life	58	87
🏙️ Population	3.78M	3.33M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 55% less expensive than in Dubai. Cities ranked 5016th and 989th ($1071 vs $2379) 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 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.7 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 5491st and 288th 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	$8.4	$10.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$58.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$9.28
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$12.6
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$6.1
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$1909
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$1243
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$3782
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$2332
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$134
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$205
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$91.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	4.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$6638
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$3507
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$1.63
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$86.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$10.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.83
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.41
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$2.12
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$3.22
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$9.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$12.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.44
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.64
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.42
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$2.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$16.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$2.76
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$6.03
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$8.1
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$5.68
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$2.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$3.41
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$77.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$13.4
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$77.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$8.79
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$61.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$104
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$903
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$13241

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 Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1494
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$2240
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1239
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1844
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$967
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$780
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$1779
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1090
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1709
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$547
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$548
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$518
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$514
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1280
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1223
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1243
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$515
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$1068
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$585
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$1056
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$589
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$897
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$563
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$605
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$464
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$901
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$546
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$557
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$551
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$529
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$829
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$573
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$536