Cape Town vs Los Angeles - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Los Angeles
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$3361
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$7751
🏠 One person rent	$681	$2151
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$3720
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$750
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$245
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$4549
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	56	99
😀 Quality of life	55	94
🏙️ Population	3.78M	3.9M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 63% less expensive than in Los Angeles. Cities ranked 4637th and 65th ($1231 vs $3361) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 51st 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.4 months in Los Angeles. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Los Angeles ranked 14th in the United States, while ranked 6312th and 74th 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	$11.5	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$90.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$13.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$8.27
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$6.49
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$2.83
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$2364
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$1847
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$4128
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$3274
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$131
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$205
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$69.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	6.62%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$7753
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$6833
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$1.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$81.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$19.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.24
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.3
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$3.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$4.39
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$7.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$15.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$20.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$5.28
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.75
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$4.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$4.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$2.88
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$2.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$1.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$4.04
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$15.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$3.97
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$13.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$9.09
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$5.34
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$2.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$68.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$18
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$168
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$31.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$62
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$102
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$1849
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$26874

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 Los Angeles

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Huntington Park	$2803
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2786
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2844
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2780
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2722
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$2940
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$2952
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2764
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$3132
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2728
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$3036
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2739
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2762
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3656
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$2947
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2917
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2807
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2822
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$3002
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3706
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2758
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3288
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2650
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2856
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3119
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$2970
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2855
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2794
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2769
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2731
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$3004
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2810
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3122
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$3008
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2725
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2682
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3595
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2788
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3191
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$2927