Cape Town vs Harare - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Harare
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$1021
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$2475
🏠 One person rent	$681	$408
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$649
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$352
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$188
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$230
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	56	37
😀 Quality of life	55	49
🏙️ Population	3.78M	2.15M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 21% more expensive than in Harare. Cities ranked 4637th and 5412th ($1231 vs $1021) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and Zimbabwe, respectively. Check South Africa vs Zimbabwe comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.2 months in Harare. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Harare ranked 1st in Zimbabwe, while ranked 6312th and 6721st 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 Harare infographic

Share this infographic!

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Harare

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

	Cape Town	Harare
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$49.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$5.96
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.49
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$366
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$257
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$662
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$459
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$36.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$56
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$93.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	14.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$1147
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$587
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$54.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$21.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.58
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$2.07
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$2.13
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$12.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$6.83
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$6.92
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$2.31
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$2.16
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.68
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$2.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$8.03
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$1.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$1.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$6.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$5.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$2.67
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$1.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$55.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$10.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$35.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$7.17
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$19.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$34.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$258
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$8872

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	$1243
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$666
371 km or 231 mi	George	$857
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$946
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1005
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$746
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$814
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$988
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$861
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1304
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$784
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$598
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$650
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$901
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$762
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$948
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$808
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$833
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$904
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$637
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$637
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$706
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$984
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$940
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$668
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$607
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$890
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$985
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$984
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$892
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$927
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$857

Cities near Harare

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
66 km or 41 mi	Marondera	$779
105 km or 65 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
133 km or 83 mi	Kadoma	$761
165 km or 103 mi	Kwekwe	$716
213 km or 132 mi	Mutare	$755
223 km or 138 mi	Gweru	$587
251 km or 156 mi	Masvingo	$873
291 km or 181 mi	Chimoio	$916
328 km or 204 mi	Tete	$820
369 km or 229 mi	Bulawayo	$658
399 km or 248 mi	Lusaka	$655
447 km or 278 mi	Choma	$687
458 km or 284 mi	Beira	$996
478 km or 297 mi	Blantyre	$506
498 km or 309 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
510 km or 317 mi	Ntcheu	$493
514 km or 319 mi	Mulanje	$461
518 km or 322 mi	Lilongwe	$592
525 km or 326 mi	Francistown	$587
531 km or 330 mi	Zomba	$458
549 km or 341 mi	Livingstone	$653
584 km or 363 mi	Mangochi	$496
588 km or 365 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
599 km or 372 mi	Ndola	$577
618 km or 384 mi	Quelimane	$692
635 km or 394 mi	Kitwe	$1062
659 km or 409 mi	Mufulira	$1278
665 km or 413 mi	Palapye	$514
679 km or 422 mi	Serowe	$536
680 km or 422 mi	Chingola	$1069
714 km or 444 mi	Mzimba	$565
734 km or 456 mi	Mahalapye	$577
775 km or 482 mi	Mansa	$912
778 km or 484 mi	Mzuzu	$527
786 km or 489 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
847 km or 526 mi	Xai-Xai	$915
847 km or 526 mi	Kasama	$888
892 km or 554 mi	Likasi	$1032
898 km or 558 mi	Middelburg	$830