Cape Town vs Melbourne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cape Town	Melbourne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1366	$2496
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3099	$6197
🏠 One person rent	$773	$1388
🏘️ Family rent	$1343	$2468
🍽️ Food expenses	$355	$606
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$346
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$404	$4328
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	55	100
😀 Quality of life	55	100
🏙️ Population	3.78M	5.35M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 45% less expensive than in Melbourne. Cities ranked 4432nd and 893rd ($1366 vs $2496) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 4th in South Africa and Australia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.7 months in Melbourne. Cape Town ranked 4th best city to live in South Africa vs Melbourne ranked 1st in Australia, while ranked 6382nd and 1st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Melbourne

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

	Cape Town	Melbourne
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.5	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.7	$71.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.71	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.13	$9.06
☕ Cappuccino	$2.42	$4.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$2.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$874	$1549
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$594	$1138
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1556	$2861
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1079	$2079
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.1	$115
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$129	$180
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39	$52.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.25%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2160	$7481
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1500	$6465
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.16	$3.9
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.7	$132
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.46	$19.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.73
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.21	$2.72
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$2.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.91	$5.92
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.29	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.21	$9.85
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.46	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$3.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$3.25
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$3.42
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$4.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$3.06
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$2.73
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$1.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.84	$2.74
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.59	$14.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$5.42
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.44	$25.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.94	$8.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.02	$6.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$3.3
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$2.88
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.6	$48.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.6	$15.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$39.1	$53.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$26.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.9	$80
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$127
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$264	$2232
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5378	$26129

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	$1345
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$718
371 km or 231 mi	George	$927
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$980
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1036
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$811
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$874
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1050
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$927
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1419
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$795
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$763
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$630
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$681
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$952
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$573
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$826
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$986
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$604
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$875
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$826
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$901
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$791
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$934
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$697
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$694
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$865
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$765
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$716
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1057
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$1017
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$731
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$662
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1171
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$958
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1023
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1089
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$948
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$968
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$905

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1829
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1822
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1894
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1928
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1906
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1860
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1896
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2217
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1604
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1487
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1979
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1815
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1898
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1824
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1753
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2223
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1904
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1821
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2308
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1477
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1699
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2338
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1710
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1867
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2482
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2050
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2379
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1997
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2128
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1288
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172