Cape Town vs Guangzhou - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cape Town	Guangzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1366	$782
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3099	$2063
🏠 One person rent	$773	$354
🏘️ Family rent	$1343	$619
🍽️ Food expenses	$355	$262
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$84.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$404	$829
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	20 km
🎓 Higher education	55	96
😀 Quality of life	55	74
🏙️ Population	3.78M	18.7M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 75% more expensive than in Guangzhou. Cities ranked 4432nd and 6835th ($1366 vs $782) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 32nd in South Africa and China, respectively. Check South Africa vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.1 months in Guangzhou. Cape Town ranked 4th best city to live in South Africa vs Guangzhou ranked 7th in China, while ranked 6382nd and 2285th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$12.5	$2.86
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.7	$28.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.71	$5.05
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.13	$1.08
☕ Cappuccino	$2.42	$2.92
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$874	$532
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$594	$243
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1556	$951
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1079	$445
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.1	$38.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$129	$59.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39	$13.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.25%	3.62%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2160	$8986
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1500	$3592
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.16	$0.43
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.7	$20.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.46	$4.89
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.86
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.21	$1.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.07
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.91	$1.59
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.29	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.21	$4.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.46	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.12
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.94
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.03
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.41
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.84	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.59	$8.57
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$1.03
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.44	$3.78
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.94	$5.46
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.02	$5.71
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.22
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$2.72
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.6	$60.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.6	$6.05
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$39.1	$29
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$9.67
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.9	$41.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$71.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$264	$400
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5378	$16938

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	$1345
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$718
371 km or 231 mi	George	$927
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$980
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1036
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$811
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$874
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1050
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$927
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1419
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$795
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$763
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$630
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$681
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$952
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$573
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$826
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$986
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$604
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$875
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$826
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$901
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$791
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$934
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$697
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$694
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$865
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$765
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$716
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1057
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$1017
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$731
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$662
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1171
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$958
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1023
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1089
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$948
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$968
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$905

Cities near Guangzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Foshan	$611
51 km or 32 mi	Dongguan	$666
63 km or 39 mi	Jiangmen	$848
65 km or 41 mi	Qingyuan	$795
67 km or 42 mi	Zhongshan	$534
83 km or 52 mi	Zhaoqing	$807
100 km or 62 mi	Zhuhai	$674
102 km or 63 mi	Kaiping	$844
105 km or 65 mi	Shenzhen	$939
111 km or 69 mi	Macau	$1718
118 km or 73 mi	Huizhou	$621
127 km or 79 mi	Yunfu	$832
131 km or 81 mi	Kowloon	$2415
132 km or 82 mi	Hong Kong	$2674
162 km or 100 mi	Heyuan	$765
189 km or 117 mi	Shaoguan	$807
194 km or 121 mi	Yangjiang	$896
202 km or 126 mi	Wuzhou	$816
205 km or 127 mi	Lianzhou	$760
216 km or 134 mi	Shanwei	$943
225 km or 140 mi	Hezhou	$769
281 km or 175 mi	Gaozhou	$790
291 km or 181 mi	Maoming	$789
298 km or 185 mi	Chenzhou	$730
298 km or 185 mi	Puning	$589
319 km or 198 mi	Meizhou	$673
321 km or 199 mi	Jieyang	$464
323 km or 201 mi	Yulin	$738
345 km or 214 mi	Ganzhou	$814
349 km or 217 mi	Chaozhou	$465
352 km or 219 mi	Shantou	$602
364 km or 226 mi	Zhanjiang	$805
373 km or 232 mi	Guigang	$699
384 km or 239 mi	Guilin	$533
406 km or 252 mi	Yongzhou	$638
414 km or 257 mi	Liuzhou	$587
416 km or 259 mi	Laibin	$608
424 km or 264 mi	Hengyang	$609
440 km or 273 mi	Longyan	$698
460 km or 286 mi	Haikou	$694