Cape Town vs Nairobi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cape Town	Nairobi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1386	$807
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3160	$2035
🏠 One person rent	$775	$305
🏘️ Family rent	$1348	$518
🍽️ Food expenses	$359	$276
🚐 Transport expenses	$139	$165
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$405	$228
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	55	67
😀 Quality of life	58	59
🏙️ Population	3.78M	5.55M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 72% more expensive than in Nairobi. Cities ranked 4336th and 6736th ($1386 vs $807) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and Kenya, respectively. Check South Africa vs Kenya comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.3 months in Nairobi. Cape Town ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Nairobi ranked 1st in Kenya, while ranked 6134th and 6034th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Cape Town vs Nairobi

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

	Cape Town	Nairobi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.2	$5.36
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.7	$34.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.19	$6.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.03	$2.32
☕ Cappuccino	$2.47	$2.71
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$0.6
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$942	$383
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$591	$205
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$704
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$371
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.4	$29.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$45.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.7	$35.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.35%	14.79%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2325	$1533
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1508	$900
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.33	$0.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.4	$35.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11	$13.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.48
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$0.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.2	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.97	$1.64
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.53	$10.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.77	$6.19
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.45	$6.14
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$3.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$0.98
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.94
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$0.96
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$0.92
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.77	$1.48
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.22	$11.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.47	$2.27
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.38	$3.48
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$4.22
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.41	$1.32
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.62	$1.3
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$47.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.14	$7.69
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.2	$15.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$4.82
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.7	$22.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$54.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$272	$255
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6197	$10471

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	$1421
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$763
371 km or 231 mi	George	$877
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$968
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1020
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$796
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$863
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1033
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$904
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1390
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$773
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$611
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$660
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$953
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$811
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$991
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$872
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$903
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$945
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$691
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$691
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$742
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1031
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$994
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$723
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$663
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1204
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$912
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1040
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1104
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$938
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$998
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$893

Cities near Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$448
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$415
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$532
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$543
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$618
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$540
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$513
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$549
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$524
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$603
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$624
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$563
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$611
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$573
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$613
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$533
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$635
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$697
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$531
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$495
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$546
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$586
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$417
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$735
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$591
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$688
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$671
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$872
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$688
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$541
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$583
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$810
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$553
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$689
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$447
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$691
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$690
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$577
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$533
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$795