Cape Town vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cape Town	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1386	$1628
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3160	$3587
🏠 One person rent	$775	$936
🏘️ Family rent	$1348	$1460
🍽️ Food expenses	$359	$376
🚐 Transport expenses	$139	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$405	$2284
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	21 km
🎓 Higher education	55	70
😀 Quality of life	58	78
🏙️ Population	3.78M	7.01M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 15% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 4336th and 3485th ($1386 vs $1628) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.4 months in Riyadh. Cape Town ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 6134th and 899th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Cape Town vs Riyadh

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

	Cape Town	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.2	$7.94
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.7	$53.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.19	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.03	$1.72
☕ Cappuccino	$2.47	$4.14
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$0.8
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$942	$999
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$591	$757
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$1794
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$1176
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.4	$57.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$87.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.7	$73.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.35%	5.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2325	$3071
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1508	$1929
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.33	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.4	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11	$17.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$0.64
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.2	$1.33
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$2.45
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.97	$2.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.53	$9.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.77	$10.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.45	$14.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$2.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.16
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.77	$2.4
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.22	$8.05
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.47	$1.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.38	$7.43
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$2.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$4.27
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.41	$2.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.62	$5.18
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$89.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.14	$16.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.2	$51.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$8.02
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.7	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$272	$503
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6197	$10912

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	$1421
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$763
371 km or 231 mi	George	$877
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$968
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1020
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$796
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$863
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1033
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$904
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1390
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$773
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$611
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$660
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$953
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$811
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$991
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$872
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$903
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$945
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$691
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$691
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$742
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1031
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$994
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$723
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$663
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1204
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$912
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1040
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1104
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$938
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$998
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$893

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$821
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$938
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$834
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$965
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1059
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$917
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$778
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1062
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1218
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1340
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1247
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$993
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$2100
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$2015
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1437
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$738
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$708
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$703
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$454
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$694
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$522
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$861
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$509
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$890
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$457
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$493
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1791
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$655
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1164
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$471
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$469
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$573
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$548
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$2133
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1031
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$505
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$670
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$873
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$494
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$459