Cape Town vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$4203
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$9136
🏠 One person rent	$681	$2713
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$4396
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$874
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$379
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$5599
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	56	100
😀 Quality of life	55	98
🏙️ Population	3.78M	8.8M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 71% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 4637th and 4th ($1231 vs $4203) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in South Africa and the United States, respectively. Check South Africa vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs New York City ranked 1st in the United States, while ranked 6312th and 11th 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 New York City infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/cape-town/new-york.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs New York City infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/new-york" target="_blank">Cape Town vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cape Town vs New York City

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

	Cape Town	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$92.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$8.67
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$6.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$3.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$3669
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$2221
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$5076
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$3880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$137
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$211
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$66.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$15299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$11127
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$2.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$134
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$25
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$0.9
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.58
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$4.49
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$6.71
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$7.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$19.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$15.9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$19.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$7.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.5
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$5.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$6.35
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$3.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$3.71
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$1.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$3.76
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$18.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$4.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$18.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$23.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$13.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$8.03
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$2.87
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$128
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$20.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$157
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$37.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$63.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$119
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$1884
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$22663

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 New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2569
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3364
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3066
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2913
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2733
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3253
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2717
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2783
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2727
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2725
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2735
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2811
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2671
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2712
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2765
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2538
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2688
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2756
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2545
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2475
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2614
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2647
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2770
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2705
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2513
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2749
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2774
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2695
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2769
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2655
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2730
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2718
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2609
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2506
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2723
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2911
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2779
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2680
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2470
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3174