Cape Town vs Melbourne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Melbourne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$2397
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$5694
🏠 One person rent	$603	$1344
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$2215
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$557
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$345
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$4357
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	55	100
😀 Quality of life	59	100
🏙️ Population	3.78M	5.03M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 53% less expensive than in Melbourne. Cities ranked 4849th and 923rd ($1120 vs $2397) 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 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.8 months in Melbourne. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Melbourne ranked 1st in Australia, while ranked 5407th and 1st 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 Melbourne infographic

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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	$7.8	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$62.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$8.61
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$3.66
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$2.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$1361
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$1146
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$2752
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$1818
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$101
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$156
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$54
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	6.33%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$7512
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$5768
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$3.66
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$126
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$21.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.36
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.47
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$2.64
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$4.36
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$10.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$9.57
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$14.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$3.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$2.79
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.65
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$4.42
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.37
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$2.19
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.98
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$2.61
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$13.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$4.74
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$26.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$6.82
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$7.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$3.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$4
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$52.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$15.4
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$56.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$23.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$81.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$1974
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$21306

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 Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1758
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1767
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1757
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1876
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1822
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1795
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1799
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1800
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1738
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1805
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$1892
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1357
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1397
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1829
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1717
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1697
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1788
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1628
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1900
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1746
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1798
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2393
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1816
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1748
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2265
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1500
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1674
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1532
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2246
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1732
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1815
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2472
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$1997
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2801
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2286
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1833
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2013
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1661
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1289
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1913