Cape Town vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$681	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	56	100
😀 Quality of life	55	77
🏙️ Population	3.78M	24.9M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 9% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4637th and 4879th ($1231 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 6312th and 1383rd 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

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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	$11.5	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$27624

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 Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753