Cape Town vs Lagos - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Lagos
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$1113
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$3096
🏠 One person rent	$582	$598
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$1649
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$280
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$162
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	56	47
😀 Quality of life	58	40
🏙️ Population	3.78M	15.1M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 4% less expensive than in Lagos. Cities ranked 5016th and 4761st ($1071 vs $1113) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 3rd in South Africa and Nigeria, respectively. Check South Africa vs Nigeria comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.1 months in Lagos. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Lagos ranked 1st in Nigeria, while ranked 5491st and 6935th 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 Lagos 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/lagos.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs Lagos infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/lagos" target="_blank">Cape Town vs Lagos - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cape Town vs Lagos

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

	Cape Town	Lagos
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$2.72
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$49.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$8.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$0.78
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$2.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$870
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$451
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$2294
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$1391
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$28.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$42.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$34.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	16.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$1797
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$1310
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.65
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$0.74
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$2.69
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.47
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$2.03
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.96
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$5.75
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$5.01
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$3.68
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$2.42
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.9
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$2.38
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$2.12
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.9
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.32
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$0.56
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$4.82
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$0.76
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$1.28
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$1.45
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$1.15
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$0.46
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$31.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$6.43
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$11.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$2.24
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$22.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$64.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$83.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$2289

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	$1147
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$619
371 km or 231 mi	George	$743
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$840
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$901
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$699
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$763
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$915
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$814
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1332
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$766
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$567
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$621
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$852
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$748
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$827
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$768
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$780
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$792
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$665
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$664
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$672
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$923
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$889
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$691
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$628
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$993
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$837
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$862
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$953
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$809
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$813
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$740

Cities near Lagos

Distance	City	Cost of living
78 km or 48 mi	Abeokuta	$1030
87 km or 54 mi	Porto-Novo	$670
109 km or 68 mi	Cotonou	$709
120 km or 74 mi	Ibadan	$776
165 km or 102 mi	Oyo	$677
171 km or 106 mi	Ife	$779
176 km or 109 mi	Abomey	$590
195 km or 121 mi	Osogbo	$695
203 km or 126 mi	Save	$613
217 km or 135 mi	Akure	$634
239 km or 148 mi	Ado Ekiti	$666
243 km or 151 mi	Lome	$755
245 km or 152 mi	Benin	$558
254 km or 158 mi	Owo	$651
261 km or 162 mi	Ilorin	$535
278 km or 173 mi	Atakpame	$647
280 km or 174 mi	Warri	$881
310 km or 193 mi	Kpalime	$632
324 km or 201 mi	Ho	$354
332 km or 206 mi	Hohoe	$575
355 km or 221 mi	Sotouboua	$649
375 km or 233 mi	Onitsha	$972
376 km or 234 mi	Sokode	$651
388 km or 241 mi	Tema	$553
389 km or 242 mi	Ashaiman	$560
406 km or 252 mi	Awka	$805
407 km or 253 mi	Koforidua	$588
408 km or 253 mi	Accra	$729
416 km or 258 mi	Owerri	$1611
422 km or 262 mi	Kara	$658
441 km or 274 mi	Port Harcourt	$679
452 km or 281 mi	Enugu	$462
463 km or 288 mi	Umuahia	$883
463 km or 288 mi	Aba	$621
495 km or 307 mi	Minna	$743
536 km or 333 mi	Abuja	$1502
555 km or 345 mi	Kumasi	$433
562 km or 350 mi	Obuasi	$551
570 km or 354 mi	Calabar	$384
572 km or 356 mi	Tamale	$507