Cape Town vs Guangzhou - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Guangzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$774
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$2226
🏠 One person rent	$582	$352
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$830
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$266
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$79
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$1294
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	20 km
🎓 Higher education	56	97
😀 Quality of life	58	75
🏙️ Population	3.78M	18.7M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 38% more expensive than in Guangzhou. Cities ranked 5016th and 6548th ($1071 vs $774) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 31st 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 1.7 months in Guangzhou. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Guangzhou ranked 6th in China, while ranked 5491st and 1055th 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 Guangzhou infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Guangzhou

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

	Cape Town	Guangzhou
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$3.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$22.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$4.78
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$0.95
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$3.14
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$465
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$263
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$1183
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$655
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$37.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$58
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$11.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	4.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$10125
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$4029
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$19.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$4.55
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.9
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$2.09
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$4.44
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$15.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.97
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.23
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.4
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.85
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.03
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.41
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$20.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$3.77
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$5.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$5.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.16
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$2.64
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$33.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$6.72
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$27.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$9.58
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$39
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$70
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$408
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$14511

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 Guangzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Foshan	$611
51 km or 32 mi	Dongguan	$656
63 km or 39 mi	Jiangmen	$804
65 km or 41 mi	Qingyuan	$794
67 km or 42 mi	Zhongshan	$461
83 km or 52 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
100 km or 62 mi	Zhuhai	$653
102 km or 63 mi	Kaiping	$812
105 km or 65 mi	Shenzhen	$916
111 km or 69 mi	Macau	$1588
118 km or 73 mi	Huizhou	$601
127 km or 79 mi	Yunfu	$823
131 km or 81 mi	Kowloon	$2432
132 km or 82 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
162 km or 100 mi	Heyuan	$764
189 km or 117 mi	Shaoguan	$818
194 km or 121 mi	Yangjiang	$877
202 km or 126 mi	Wuzhou	$803
205 km or 127 mi	Lianzhou	$755
216 km or 134 mi	Shanwei	$936
225 km or 140 mi	Hezhou	$758
281 km or 175 mi	Gaozhou	$761
291 km or 181 mi	Maoming	$756
298 km or 185 mi	Chenzhou	$724
298 km or 185 mi	Puning	$569
319 km or 198 mi	Meizhou	$655
321 km or 199 mi	Jieyang	$443
323 km or 201 mi	Yulin	$771
345 km or 214 mi	Ganzhou	$761
349 km or 217 mi	Chaozhou	$451
352 km or 219 mi	Shantou	$581
364 km or 226 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
373 km or 232 mi	Guigang	$702
384 km or 239 mi	Guilin	$522
406 km or 252 mi	Yongzhou	$609
414 km or 257 mi	Liuzhou	$579
416 km or 259 mi	Laibin	$598
424 km or 264 mi	Hengyang	$590
440 km or 273 mi	Longyan	$649
460 km or 286 mi	Haikou	$650