Cape Town vs Los Angeles - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Los Angeles
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$3196
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$7594
🏠 One person rent	$582	$2049
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$3732
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$709
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$220
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$4771
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	56	99
😀 Quality of life	58	93
🏙️ Population	3.78M	3.9M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 67% less expensive than in Los Angeles. Cities ranked 5016th and 80th ($1071 vs $3196) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 71st 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 1.5 months in Los Angeles. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Los Angeles ranked 7th in the United States, while ranked 5491st and 58th 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 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	$8.4	$21.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$87.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$12.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$8.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$5.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$2.7
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$2168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$1758
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$4056
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$3293
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$142
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$220
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$66.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	6.74%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$8056
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$7115
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$2.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$73.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$16.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.26
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.29
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$4.1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$4.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$6.05
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$12.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$14.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$17.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$5.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$2.43
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$4.31
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$2.63
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$2.62
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$1.56
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$11.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$7
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$5.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$2.63
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$49.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$18.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$190
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$27.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$60.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$1650
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$28838

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 Los Angeles

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Huntington Park	$2887
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2803
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2873
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2798
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2735
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$2936
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$2902
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2768
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$3061
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2727
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$3105
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2739
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2786
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3659
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$3014
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2903
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2788
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2780
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$3033
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3416
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2750
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3370
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2735
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2851
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3086
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$3104
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2824
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2787
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2750
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2720
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$3022
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2775
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3162
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$2758
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2669
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2662
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3573
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2789
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3256
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$2919