Cape Town vs Nairobi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Cape Town	Nairobi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$646
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2144	$1766
🏠 One person rent	$484	$239
🏘️ Family rent	$966	$565
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$224
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.2	$131
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1518	$399
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	55	67
😀 Quality of life	60	59
🏙️ Population	434K	5.55M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 36% more expensive than in Nairobi. Cities ranked 6078th and 7242nd ($881 vs $646) 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 1.7 months in Cape Town compared to 0.6 months in Nairobi. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Nairobi ranked 1st in Kenya, while ranked 5406th and 5517th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$7.47	$3.87
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.2	$22
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.04	$1.91
☕ Cappuccino	$1.94	$2.08
🥤 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	$301
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$353	$147
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1202	$848
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$749	$401
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.2	$24.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$37.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.2	$36.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	13.2%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1890	$1086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$641
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$0.67
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.8	$29.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.17	$10.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$1.4
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$0.46
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.39	$1.61
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.96	$9.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$5.54
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$4.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$0.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.53
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$0.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$0.82
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.86
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$1.3
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.51	$10.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.62	$2.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$3.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.76	$4.52
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.22	$1.08
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$0.93
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$37.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.42	$5.43
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.9	$18.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.3	$4.48
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$16.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.4	$46.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$172	$138
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4013	$6839

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 Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$530
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$524
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$439
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$486
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$571
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$536
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$405
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$441
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$424
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$557
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$557
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$452
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$493
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$542
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$493
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$622
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$600
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$654
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$547
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$581
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$706
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$762
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$600
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$720
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$556
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$449
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$599
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$677
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$446
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$543
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$539
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$748
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$575
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$448
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$458
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$445
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$448
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$553
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$566
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$747