Cape Town vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$3629
🏠 One person rent	$582	$944
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$1530
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$2731
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	56	72
😀 Quality of life	58	78
🏙️ Population	3.78M	7.01M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 35% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 5016th and 2911th ($1071 vs $1637) 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 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.7 months in Riyadh. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 5491st and 733rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cape Town vs Riyadh infographic

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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	$8.4	$9.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$53.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$4.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$1001
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$748
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$2174
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$1140
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$69.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$107
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$75.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	5.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$2485
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$1703
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$8.14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$9.75
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.7
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.86
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$2.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$8.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$7.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$2.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$2.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$102
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$52.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$7.23
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$404
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$10598

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 Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529