Cape Town vs Lusaka - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Lusaka
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$685
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$1880
🏠 One person rent	$603	$250
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$606
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$245
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$130
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$332
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	55	36
😀 Quality of life	59	48
🏙️ Population	3.78M	2.47M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 64% more expensive than in Lusaka. Cities ranked 4849th and 7016th ($1120 vs $685) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 9th in South Africa and Zambia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Zambia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.5 months in Lusaka. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Lusaka ranked 1st in Zambia, while ranked 5407th and 6308th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cape Town vs Lusaka infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Lusaka

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

	Cape Town	Lusaka
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.8	$6.96
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$26.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$3.84
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$1.02
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2.22
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$0.9
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$191
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$103
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$881
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$330
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$66.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$102
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$63.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	21.22%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$1988
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$4865
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$1.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$12.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.29
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.3
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$0.76
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$1.97
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$6.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$3.87
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$5.21
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$2.56
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.69
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.66
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.48
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$6.63
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$1.1
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$2.65
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$2.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$2.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$1.27
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$1.15
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$42.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$3.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$12.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$4.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$18.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$89.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$176
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$5845

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 Lusaka

Distance	City	Cost of living
166 km or 103 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$894
209 km or 130 mi	Choma	$725
275 km or 171 mi	Ndola	$1139
289 km or 179 mi	Kitwe	$1116
297 km or 184 mi	Chinhoyi	$830
318 km or 198 mi	Mufulira	$1090
322 km or 200 mi	Chingola	$1028
370 km or 230 mi	Kadoma	$729
373 km or 232 mi	Livingstone	$670
399 km or 248 mi	Harare	$1012
411 km or 255 mi	Chitungwiza	$890
426 km or 265 mi	Lubumbashi	$1007
429 km or 267 mi	Kwekwe	$731
464 km or 288 mi	Marondera	$810
475 km or 295 mi	Mansa	$1017
478 km or 297 mi	Gweru	$761
521 km or 324 mi	Likasi	$939
529 km or 329 mi	Bulawayo	$756
574 km or 356 mi	Tete	$834
584 km or 363 mi	Masvingo	$871
605 km or 376 mi	Kolwezi	$947
611 km or 380 mi	Mutare	$662
613 km or 381 mi	Lilongwe	$582
645 km or 401 mi	Francistown	$585
658 km or 409 mi	Kasama	$1079
686 km or 426 mi	Chimoio	$953
688 km or 428 mi	Ntcheu	$515
694 km or 431 mi	Mzimba	$574
721 km or 448 mi	Blantyre	$591
729 km or 453 mi	Monkey Bay	$526
756 km or 470 mi	Zomba	$498
757 km or 471 mi	Mangochi	$516
762 km or 474 mi	Mzuzu	$534
775 km or 482 mi	Mulanje	$500
792 km or 492 mi	Serowe	$600
802 km or 499 mi	Palapye	$554
852 km or 529 mi	Beira	$1000
869 km or 540 mi	Mahalapye	$663
917 km or 570 mi	Mbeya	$433
956 km or 594 mi	Quelimane	$670