Cape Town vs Los Angeles - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Los Angeles
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$3187
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$7653
🏠 One person rent	$603	$2045
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$3732
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$714
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$218
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$5275
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	55	99
😀 Quality of life	59	94
🏙️ Population	3.78M	3.9M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 65% less expensive than in Los Angeles. Cities ranked 4849th and 72nd ($1120 vs $3187) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 59th in South Africa and the United States, respectively. Check South Africa vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.7 months in Los Angeles. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Los Angeles ranked 8th in the United States, while ranked 5407th and 47th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Los Angeles infographic

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Los Angeles

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

	Cape Town	Los Angeles
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.8	$21.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$103
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$12.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$7.95
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$5.63
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$2.93
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$2261
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$1732
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$3983
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$3315
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$139
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$215
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$67.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	6.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$7592
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$7011
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$1.76
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$73.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$16.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.36
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$4.22
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$4.49
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$13.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$13.7
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$17.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$5.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$2.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$3.72
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$4.63
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.59
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$2.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$1.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$3.29
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$15.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$3.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$12
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$8.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$4.89
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$57.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$18.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$174
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$27.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$61
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$100
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$1998
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$28613

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	$850
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$649
371 km or 231 mi	George	$790
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$901
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$970
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$741
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$792
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$953
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$859
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1286
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$703
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$581
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$627
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$862
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$774
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$832
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$788
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$809
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$779
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$692
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$690
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$717
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$971
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$943
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$718
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$654
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$874
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$840
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$997
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$834
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$818
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$790

Cities near Los Angeles

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Huntington Park	$2682
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2673
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2720
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2652
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2748
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$2883
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$2849
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2604
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$2984
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2561
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$2738
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2675
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2612
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3553
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$2831
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2289
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2633
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2733
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$2844
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3327
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2638
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3271
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2354
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2709
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3009
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$2861
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2776
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2714
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2629
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2572
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$2866
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2715
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3054
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$2717
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2552
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2569
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3589
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2673
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3065
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$2754