Cape Town vs Guangzhou - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cape Town	Guangzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1386	$785
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3160	$2110
🏠 One person rent	$775	$342
🏘️ Family rent	$1348	$587
🍽️ Food expenses	$359	$267
🚐 Transport expenses	$139	$87.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$405	$1288
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	20 km
🎓 Higher education	55	96
😀 Quality of life	58	77
🏙️ Population	3.78M	18.7M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 77% more expensive than in Guangzhou. Cities ranked 4336th and 6854th ($1386 vs $785) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 34th 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 1.6 months in Guangzhou. Cape Town ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Guangzhou ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 6134th and 1149th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/cape-town/guangzhou.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs Guangzhou infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/guangzhou" target="_blank">Cape Town vs Guangzhou - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

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	$12.2	$2.93
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.7	$29.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.19	$5.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.03	$1.17
☕ Cappuccino	$2.47	$3.11
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$942	$484
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$591	$245
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$851
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$437
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.4	$35.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$53.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.7	$13.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.35%	3.46%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2325	$9091
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1508	$3444
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.33	$0.44
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.4	$20.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11	$5.01
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.2	$2.1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$1.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.97	$1.53
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.53	$16.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.77	$5.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.45	$12.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.13
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.62
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.95
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.77	$1.35
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.22	$9.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.47	$1.06
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.38	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$5.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$5.87
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.41	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.62	$2.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$67.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.14	$6.46
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.2	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$10.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.7	$40.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$82.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$272	$458
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6197	$19408

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	$1421
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$763
371 km or 231 mi	George	$877
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$968
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1020
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$796
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$863
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1033
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$904
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1390
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$773
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$611
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$660
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$953
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$811
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$991
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$872
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$903
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$945
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$691
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$691
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$742
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1031
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$994
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$723
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$663
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1204
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$912
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1040
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1104
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$938
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$998
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$893

Cities near Guangzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Foshan	$627
51 km or 32 mi	Dongguan	$694
63 km or 39 mi	Jiangmen	$873
65 km or 41 mi	Qingyuan	$801
67 km or 42 mi	Zhongshan	$548
83 km or 52 mi	Zhaoqing	$807
100 km or 62 mi	Zhuhai	$678
102 km or 63 mi	Kaiping	$858
105 km or 65 mi	Shenzhen	$995
111 km or 69 mi	Macau	$1734
118 km or 73 mi	Huizhou	$638
127 km or 79 mi	Yunfu	$839
131 km or 81 mi	Kowloon	$2396
132 km or 82 mi	Hong Kong	$2663
162 km or 100 mi	Heyuan	$777
189 km or 117 mi	Shaoguan	$793
194 km or 121 mi	Yangjiang	$908
202 km or 126 mi	Wuzhou	$828
205 km or 127 mi	Lianzhou	$766
216 km or 134 mi	Shanwei	$954
225 km or 140 mi	Hezhou	$778
281 km or 175 mi	Gaozhou	$802
291 km or 181 mi	Maoming	$797
298 km or 185 mi	Chenzhou	$739
298 km or 185 mi	Puning	$600
319 km or 198 mi	Meizhou	$682
321 km or 199 mi	Jieyang	$473
323 km or 201 mi	Yulin	$751
345 km or 214 mi	Ganzhou	$758
349 km or 217 mi	Chaozhou	$474
352 km or 219 mi	Shantou	$612
364 km or 226 mi	Zhanjiang	$824
373 km or 232 mi	Guigang	$714
384 km or 239 mi	Guilin	$528
406 km or 252 mi	Yongzhou	$648
414 km or 257 mi	Liuzhou	$601
416 km or 259 mi	Laibin	$620
424 km or 264 mi	Hengyang	$602
440 km or 273 mi	Longyan	$705
460 km or 286 mi	Haikou	$711