Cape Town vs Meru - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Cape Town	Meru
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2144	$1333
🏠 One person rent	$484	$177
🏘️ Family rent	$966	$398
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$228
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.2	$31.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1518	$406
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	69 km
🎓 Higher education	55	30
😀 Quality of life	60	29
🏙️ Population	434K	42.7K

The cost of living in Cape Town is 81% more expensive than in Meru. Cities ranked 6078th and 8601st ($881 vs $486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 5th in South Africa and Kenya, respectively. Check South Africa vs Kenya comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Cape Town compared to 0.8 months in Meru. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Meru ranked 9th in Kenya, while ranked 5406th and 8527th 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 Meru infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Meru

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

	Cape Town	Meru
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.47	$4.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.2	$27.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$4.84
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.04	$2.06
☕ Cappuccino	$1.94	$2.13
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$536	$195
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$353	$109
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1202	$557
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$749	$284
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.2	$14.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$22.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.2	$36.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	13.12%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1890	$862
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$864
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$0.7
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.8	$26.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.17	$10.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$0.94
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$0.49
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.65
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.39	$1.53
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.96	$10.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$5.39
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$4.24
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2.03
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$0.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.53
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$0.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$0.82
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.84
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.51	$10.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$1.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.62	$2.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$3.48
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.76	$4.28
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.22	$1.04
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$0.93
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.42	$5.51
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.9	$18.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.3	$3.28
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$16.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.4	$49
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$172	$136
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4013	$6789

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	$773
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$632
371 km or 231 mi	George	$684
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$805
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$866
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$643
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$704
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$703
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$753
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$710
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$683
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$511
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$535
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$689
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$682
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$765
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$701
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$719
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$738
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$631
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$633
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$637
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$875
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$845
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$656
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$603
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$908
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$776
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$807
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$889
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$780
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$751
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$718

Cities near Meru

Distance	City	Cost of living
138 km or 85 mi	Thika	$530
175 km or 109 mi	Nairobi	$646
179 km or 111 mi	Machakos	$524
180 km or 112 mi	Nakuru	$439
268 km or 167 mi	Eldoret	$405
323 km or 201 mi	Kisumu	$441
354 km or 220 mi	Mumias	$424
378 km or 235 mi	Moshi	$536
392 km or 244 mi	Tororo	$557
395 km or 245 mi	Arusha	$571
403 km or 250 mi	Mbale	$557
455 km or 283 mi	Malindi	$452
496 km or 308 mi	Jinja	$542
508 km or 316 mi	Mombasa	$493
559 km or 347 mi	Kira Town	$600
564 km or 351 mi	Kampala	$654
577 km or 359 mi	Entebbe	$547
591 km or 367 mi	Tanga	$622
600 km or 373 mi	Mwanza	$493
666 km or 414 mi	Gulu	$556
712 km or 442 mi	Stone Town	$706
712 km or 443 mi	Zanzibar	$762
732 km or 455 mi	Dodoma	$581
749 km or 465 mi	Baidoa	$805
764 km or 475 mi	Morogoro	$600
783 km or 486 mi	Dar es Salaam	$720
784 km or 487 mi	Awasa	$840
819 km or 509 mi	Arua	$553
840 km or 522 mi	Bunia	$748
852 km or 529 mi	Jimma	$871
852 km or 530 mi	Kasese	$543
858 km or 533 mi	Juba	$498
862 km or 536 mi	Byumba	$599
873 km or 542 mi	Kigali	$677
875 km or 544 mi	Muyinga	$449
883 km or 549 mi	Mogadishu	$819
907 km or 563 mi	Ruhengeri	$575
911 km or 566 mi	Ruyigi	$446
911 km or 566 mi	Beni	$747
918 km or 570 mi	Nyanza	$539