Cape Town vs Nairobi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Nairobi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$760
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$2089
🏠 One person rent	$582	$262
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$619
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$281
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$160
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$399
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	56	68
😀 Quality of life	58	59
🏙️ Population	3.78M	5.55M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 41% more expensive than in Nairobi. Cities ranked 5016th and 6622nd ($1071 vs $760) 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 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.5 months in Nairobi. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Nairobi ranked 1st in Kenya, while ranked 5491st and 5369th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Nairobi infographic

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

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	$8.4	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$38.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$6.64
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$2.34
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$2.28
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$395
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$156
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$1080
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$418
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$20
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$31.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$37.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	14.8%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$1743
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$998
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$13.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.56
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$0.92
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$0.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.65
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.63
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$6.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$5.36
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.97
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$2.01
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.03
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.18
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.52
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$1.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$2.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$3.08
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$2.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$3.72
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.14
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$42
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$6.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$15.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$4.79
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$19.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$59.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$187
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$7984

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	$1147
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$619
371 km or 231 mi	George	$743
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$840
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$901
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$699
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$763
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$915
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$814
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1332
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$766
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$567
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$621
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$852
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$748
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$827
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$768
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$780
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$792
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$665
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$664
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$672
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$923
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$889
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$691
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$628
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$993
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$837
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$862
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$953
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$809
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$813
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$740

Cities near Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$589
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$408
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$500
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$541
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$638
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$561
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$483
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$522
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$490
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$602
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$605
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$580
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$562
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$625
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$545
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$646
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$698
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$558
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$502
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$523
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$552
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$486
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$811
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$594
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$650
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$613
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$771
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$648
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$573
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$518
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$801
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$492
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$648
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$413
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$651
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$648
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$585
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$479
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$785