Cape Town vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Rio de Janeiro
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$2347
🏠 One person rent	$681	$458
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$770
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$258
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$137
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$442
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	56	95
😀 Quality of life	55	67
🏙️ Population	3.78M	6.21M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 31% more expensive than in Rio de Janeiro. Cities ranked 4637th and 6006th ($1231 vs $940) 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.5 months in Rio de Janeiro. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Rio de Janeiro ranked 2nd in Brazil, while ranked 6312th and 4818th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cape Town vs Rio de Janeiro infographic

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<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	$11.5	$6.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$31.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$6.48
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$2.36
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$1.31
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$501
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$324
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$881
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$563
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$79.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$125
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$18.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	11.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$1966
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$1150
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$1.25
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$41.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$7.88
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.09
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.06
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.48
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$2.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$8.65
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$3.96
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$8.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.56
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.47
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.22
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.13
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.69
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$7.11
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$1.17
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$1.99
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$3.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$3.18
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.06
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$25.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$6.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$51.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$8.04
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$45.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$74.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$531
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$12076

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 Rio de Janeiro

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Niteroi	$739
18 km or 11 mi	Duque de Caxias	$653
21 km or 13 mi	Sao Joao de Meriti	$648
26 km or 16 mi	Belford Roxo	$810
31 km or 19 mi	Nova Iguacu	$590
45 km or 28 mi	Petropolis	$706
60 km or 37 mi	Teresopolis	$498
70 km or 44 mi	Saquarema	$564
98 km or 61 mi	Nova Friburgo	$445
102 km or 64 mi	Volta Redonda	$539
108 km or 67 mi	Barra Mansa	$557
112 km or 70 mi	Sao Pedro da Aldeia	$530
115 km or 72 mi	Angra dos Reis	$683
121 km or 75 mi	Cabo Frio	$525
130 km or 81 mi	Juiz de Fora	$550
135 km or 84 mi	Rio das Ostras	$506
137 km or 85 mi	Resende	$603
157 km or 97 mi	Macae	$625
184 km or 115 mi	Cruzeiro	$631
196 km or 122 mi	Barbacena	$540
199 km or 123 mi	Lorena	$673
200 km or 124 mi	Ubatuba	$632
201 km or 125 mi	Uba	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Guaratingueta	$643
215 km or 134 mi	Muriae	$613
226 km or 140 mi	Sao Joao del-Rei	$541
231 km or 144 mi	Campos dos Goytacazes	$518
232 km or 144 mi	Pindamonhangaba	$620
238 km or 148 mi	Itajuba	$536
240 km or 149 mi	Caraguatatuba	$625
241 km or 150 mi	Taubate	$611
242 km or 150 mi	Vicosa	$618
245 km or 152 mi	Sao Sebastiao	$633
251 km or 156 mi	Tres Coracoes	$559
257 km or 160 mi	Conselheiro Lafaiete	$644
258 km or 160 mi	Cacapava	$657
264 km or 164 mi	Lavras	$530
275 km or 171 mi	Varginha	$492
277 km or 172 mi	Sao Jose dos Campos	$819
279 km or 173 mi	Ponte Nova	$586