Cape Town vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Rio de Janeiro
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$2281
🏠 One person rent	$582	$445
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$751
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$239
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$141
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$372
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	56	95
😀 Quality of life	58	62
🏙️ Population	3.78M	6.21M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 17% more expensive than in Rio de Janeiro. Cities ranked 5016th and 5954th ($1071 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in South Africa and Brazil, respectively. Check South Africa vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.4 months in Rio de Janeiro. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Rio de Janeiro ranked 3rd in Brazil, while ranked 5491st and 4857th 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 Rio de Janeiro 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/rio-de-janeiro.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs Rio de Janeiro infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/rio-de-janeiro" target="_blank">Cape Town vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cape Town vs Rio de Janeiro

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

	Cape Town	Rio de Janeiro
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$5.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$29.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$5.98
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$2.17
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$1.22
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$454
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$306
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$821
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$535
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$92.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$141
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$17.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	11.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$1746
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$1118
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$1.2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$46.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$7.66
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.03
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.37
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.98
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$7.07
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$3.32
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$7.46
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.17
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.33
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.06
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$1.75
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$7.32
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$1.12
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$1.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$3.14
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$3.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.03
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$24.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$6.26
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$61.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$7.25
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$46.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$506
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$10819

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 Rio de Janeiro

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Niteroi	$718
18 km or 11 mi	Duque de Caxias	$614
21 km or 13 mi	Sao Joao de Meriti	$622
26 km or 16 mi	Belford Roxo	$769
31 km or 19 mi	Nova Iguacu	$562
45 km or 28 mi	Petropolis	$587
60 km or 37 mi	Teresopolis	$546
70 km or 44 mi	Saquarema	$632
98 km or 61 mi	Nova Friburgo	$474
102 km or 64 mi	Volta Redonda	$522
108 km or 67 mi	Barra Mansa	$537
112 km or 70 mi	Sao Pedro da Aldeia	$589
115 km or 72 mi	Angra dos Reis	$636
121 km or 75 mi	Cabo Frio	$584
130 km or 81 mi	Juiz de Fora	$462
135 km or 84 mi	Rio das Ostras	$482
137 km or 85 mi	Resende	$572
157 km or 97 mi	Macae	$642
184 km or 115 mi	Cruzeiro	$595
196 km or 122 mi	Barbacena	$487
199 km or 123 mi	Lorena	$631
200 km or 124 mi	Ubatuba	$599
201 km or 125 mi	Uba	$563
208 km or 129 mi	Guaratingueta	$603
215 km or 134 mi	Muriae	$584
226 km or 140 mi	Sao Joao del-Rei	$505
231 km or 144 mi	Campos dos Goytacazes	$536
232 km or 144 mi	Pindamonhangaba	$588
238 km or 148 mi	Itajuba	$518
240 km or 149 mi	Caraguatatuba	$593
241 km or 150 mi	Taubate	$581
242 km or 150 mi	Vicosa	$584
245 km or 152 mi	Sao Sebastiao	$599
251 km or 156 mi	Tres Coracoes	$523
257 km or 160 mi	Conselheiro Lafaiete	$602
258 km or 160 mi	Cacapava	$605
264 km or 164 mi	Lavras	$503
275 km or 171 mi	Varginha	$449
277 km or 172 mi	Sao Jose dos Campos	$705
279 km or 173 mi	Ponte Nova	$562