Cape Town vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

	Cape Town	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$902	$1379
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2119	$4064
🏠 One person rent	$525	$768
🏘️ Family rent	$985	$1746
🍽️ Food expenses	$243	$353
🚐 Transport expenses	$52.9	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1294	$1510
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	56	100
😀 Quality of life	62	78
🏙️ Population	434K	24.9M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 35% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5894th and 3152nd ($902 vs $1379) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 5th in South Africa and China, respectively. Check South Africa vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.1 months in Shanghai. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 5040th and 484th 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 Shanghai 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/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/shanghai" target="_blank">Cape Town vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cape Town vs Shanghai

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

	Cape Town	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.38	$7.11
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.2	$42.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.04	$6.39
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$3.55
☕ Cappuccino	$1.79	$4.81
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.91	$0.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$603	$1079
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$395	$611
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1194	$2636
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$793	$1416
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.3	$44.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.6	$67.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.8	$18.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.76%	4.98%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2106	$18451
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1365	$10024
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.59
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.7	$28.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.69	$6.86
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$3.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$2.47
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.78
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.26	$2.83
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.2	$21.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.54	$4.56
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.59	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$2.49
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.3	$2.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.88
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.14
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.4	$1.49
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.97	$19.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.44	$0.93
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.88	$3.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.27	$5.61
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.61	$5.96
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.49	$1.67
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.12	$1.92
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$35.9	$75.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.6	$8.13
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$25.2	$108
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.99	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$49.1	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$90.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$195	$1380
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4486	$27276

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	$833
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$604
371 km or 231 mi	George	$673
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$585
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$825
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$706
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$772
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$746
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$773
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$768
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$754
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$665
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$595
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$619
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$751
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$597
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$696
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$777
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$594
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$757
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$596
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$748
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$644
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$780
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$613
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$667
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$814
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$726
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$656
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$860
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$1073
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$720
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$605
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$905
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$732
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$799
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$896
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$796
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$780
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$789

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$754
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$667
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$701
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$677
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1099
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$726
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$674
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$693
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$952
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$690
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$852
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$776
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$684
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$680
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$882
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$665
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$726
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$685
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$778
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$683
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$891
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$681
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$673
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$672
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$652
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$662
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$674
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$689
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$674
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$573
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$711
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$666
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$655
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$650
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$681
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$664
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$678
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$729
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$673
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$811