Cape Town vs Kuala Lumpur - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Kuala Lumpur
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$866
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$2078
🏠 One person rent	$681	$415
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$706
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$295
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$74
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$1175
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	56	93
😀 Quality of life	55	78
🏙️ Population	3.78M	1.98M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 42% more expensive than in Kuala Lumpur. Cities ranked 4637th and 6384th ($1231 vs $866) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and Malaysia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Malaysia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.4 months in Kuala Lumpur. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st in Malaysia, while ranked 6312th and 985th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cape Town vs Kuala Lumpur infographic

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Kuala Lumpur

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

	Cape Town	Kuala Lumpur
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$4.41
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$26.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$4.77
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$4.73
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$3.11
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.88
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$522
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$311
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$927
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$550
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$36
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$55.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$25.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	4.46%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$3056
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$1519
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.7
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$16.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$9.83
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$0.53
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$2.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.45
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$2.47
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$4.97
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$9.52
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$3.13
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$2.66
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.27
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.46
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$17.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$3.22
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$4.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$3.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.76
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$2.29
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$46.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$4.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$21
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$5.58
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$62.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$94.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$267
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$9002

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 Kuala Lumpur

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.7 mi	Petaling Jaya	$731
15 km or 9.1 mi	Subang Jaya	$789
19 km or 12 mi	Shah Alam	$681
24 km or 15 mi	Putrajaya	$584
25 km or 16 mi	Cyberjaya	$609
30 km or 19 mi	Klang	$704
54 km or 33 mi	Seremban	$643
123 km or 77 mi	Malacca	$689
124 km or 77 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
155 km or 97 mi	Muar	$771
167 km or 104 mi	Dumai	$519
176 km or 109 mi	Ipoh	$657
196 km or 122 mi	Kuantan	$552
199 km or 124 mi	Batu Pahat	$788
211 km or 131 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
217 km or 135 mi	Taiping	$552
219 km or 136 mi	Kluang	$771
229 km or 142 mi	Chukai	$598
282 km or 175 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
291 km or 181 mi	Butterworth	$701
291 km or 181 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534
292 km or 181 mi	Pekanbaru	$503
293 km or 182 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
294 km or 183 mi	George Town	$754
297 km or 184 mi	Johor Bahru	$789
309 km or 192 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
311 km or 193 mi	Singapore City	$3201
315 km or 195 mi	Bukit Merah	$2909
335 km or 208 mi	Padangsidempuan	$563
338 km or 210 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
341 km or 212 mi	Medan	$466
346 km or 215 mi	Batam	$542
360 km or 224 mi	Binjai	$460
361 km or 225 mi	Alor Setar	$509
394 km or 245 mi	Tanjung Pinang	$502
402 km or 250 mi	Kangar	$570
413 km or 257 mi	Langkawi	$592
441 km or 274 mi	Langsa	$449
451 km or 280 mi	Hat Yai	$592
457 km or 284 mi	Ko Lipe	$756