Cape Town vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Cape Town	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$1190
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2144	$3757
🏠 One person rent	$484	$635
🏘️ Family rent	$966	$1613
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$308
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.2	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1518	$1455
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	55	100
😀 Quality of life	60	78
🏙️ Population	434K	24.9M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 26% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 6078th and 4461st ($881 vs $1190) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 6th in South Africa and China, respectively. Check South Africa vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Cape Town compared to 1.2 months in Shanghai. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 5406th and 558th 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	$7.47	$4.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.2	$40.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.04	$1.7
☕ Cappuccino	$1.94	$3.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$536	$901
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$353	$497
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1202	$2595
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$749	$1269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.2	$39.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$60.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.2	$17.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	4.77%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1890	$17366
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$9346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.8	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.17	$6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$2.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$2.02
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.47
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.39	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.96	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$4.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$12.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.51	$14.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.62	$3.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.76	$7.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.22	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$69.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.42	$8.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.9	$89.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.3	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$66.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.4	$78.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$172	$1283
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4013	$28143

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	$773
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$632
371 km or 231 mi	George	$684
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$805
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$866
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$643
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$704
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$703
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$753
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$710
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$683
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$511
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$535
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$689
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$682
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$765
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$701
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$719
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$738
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$631
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$633
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$637
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$875
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$845
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$656
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$603
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$908
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$776
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$807
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$889
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$780
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$751
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$718

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1074
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$731
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$771
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$763
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$682
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$731
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$651
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$678
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$699
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$688
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$690
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$677
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$675
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$755
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$707
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$713
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$682
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$831
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$679
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$694
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$625
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$707
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$703
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$524
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$631
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$645
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$720
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$725
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$696
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$719
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$789
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$652
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$740