Cape Town vs Harare - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cape Town	Harare
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1386	$1015
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3160	$2515
🏠 One person rent	$775	$415
🏘️ Family rent	$1348	$700
🍽️ Food expenses	$359	$338
🚐 Transport expenses	$139	$187
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$405	$223
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	55	38
😀 Quality of life	58	48
🏙️ Population	3.78M	2.15M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 37% more expensive than in Harare. Cities ranked 4336th and 5463rd ($1386 vs $1015) 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 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Harare ranked 1st in Zimbabwe, while ranked 6134th and 6892nd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$12.2	$9.57
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.7	$49.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.19	$5.99
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.03	$1.28
☕ Cappuccino	$2.47	$3.02
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$942	$398
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$591	$292
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$731
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$540
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.4	$36.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.7	$65.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.35%	13.63%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2325	$909
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1508	$415
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.33	$1.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.4	$53.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11	$20.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.67
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.54
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.2	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$1.78
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.97	$1.93
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.53	$11.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.77	$5.63
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.45	$6.38
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$3.03
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$2.09
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.51
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.8
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.68
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.77	$2.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.22	$9.01
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.47	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.38	$1.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$6.1
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$5.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.41	$2.66
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.62	$1.59
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$56.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.14	$9.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.2	$36.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$7.14
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.7	$23.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$37.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$272	$337
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6197	$8948

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 Harare

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Chitungwiza	$780
66 km or 41 mi	Marondera	$755
105 km or 65 mi	Chinhoyi	$629
133 km or 83 mi	Kadoma	$727
165 km or 103 mi	Kwekwe	$677
213 km or 132 mi	Mutare	$754
223 km or 138 mi	Gweru	$565
251 km or 156 mi	Masvingo	$840
291 km or 181 mi	Chimoio	$875
328 km or 204 mi	Tete	$792
369 km or 229 mi	Bulawayo	$632
399 km or 248 mi	Lusaka	$777
447 km or 278 mi	Choma	$849
458 km or 284 mi	Beira	$952
478 km or 297 mi	Blantyre	$495
498 km or 309 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$925
510 km or 317 mi	Ntcheu	$489
514 km or 319 mi	Mulanje	$456
518 km or 322 mi	Lilongwe	$587
525 km or 326 mi	Francistown	$632
531 km or 330 mi	Zomba	$452
549 km or 341 mi	Livingstone	$813
584 km or 363 mi	Mangochi	$494
588 km or 365 mi	Monkey Bay	$516
599 km or 372 mi	Ndola	$692
618 km or 384 mi	Quelimane	$691
635 km or 394 mi	Kitwe	$1304
659 km or 409 mi	Mufulira	$1602
665 km or 413 mi	Palapye	$549
679 km or 422 mi	Serowe	$590
680 km or 422 mi	Chingola	$1378
714 km or 444 mi	Mzimba	$559
734 km or 456 mi	Mahalapye	$615
775 km or 482 mi	Mansa	$1166
778 km or 484 mi	Mzuzu	$522
786 km or 489 mi	Lubumbashi	$1125
847 km or 526 mi	Xai-Xai	$965
847 km or 526 mi	Kasama	$1132
892 km or 554 mi	Likasi	$1029
898 km or 558 mi	Middelburg	$875