Cape Town vs Nairobi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Nairobi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$811
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$2043
🏠 One person rent	$681	$286
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$478
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$286
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$176
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$181
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	56	68
😀 Quality of life	55	58
🏙️ Population	3.78M	5.55M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 52% more expensive than in Nairobi. Cities ranked 4637th and 6622nd ($1231 vs $811) 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 0.2 months in Nairobi. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Nairobi ranked 1st in Kenya, while ranked 6312th and 6071st 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 Nairobi infographic

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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	$11.5	$5.85
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$38.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$6.96
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$2.33
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$2.45
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.7
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$399
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$179
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$726
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$322
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$23.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$35.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$39.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	15%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$1979
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$1111
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.76
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$31.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$17
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.43
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.9
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.7
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$1.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$6.51
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$5.68
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$3.08
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.05
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.85
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.95
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.04
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.49
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$11.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$2.2
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$3.29
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$2.64
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$3.73
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$1.16
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$44.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$7.42
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$17.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$4.81
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$19.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$67.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$225
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$8707

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	$1243
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$666
371 km or 231 mi	George	$857
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$946
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1005
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$746
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$814
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$988
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$861
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1304
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$784
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$598
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$650
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$901
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$762
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$948
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$808
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$833
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$904
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$637
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$637
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$706
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$984
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$940
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$668
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$607
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$890
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$985
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$984
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$892
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$927
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$857

Cities near Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$460
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$420
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$503
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$549
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$612
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$533
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$528
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$543
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$511
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$623
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$654
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$548
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$596
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$582
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$656
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$552
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$658
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$717
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$578
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$526
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$567
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$609
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$421
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$799
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$627
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$687
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$597
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$758
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$687
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$567
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$524
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$833
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$499
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$686
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$412
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$689
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$688
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$617
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$491
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$820