Cape Town vs Sharjah - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Sharjah
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$1419
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$3073
🏠 One person rent	$681	$859
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$1432
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$332
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$2246
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	56	66
😀 Quality of life	55	88
🏙️ Population	3.78M	1.25M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 13% less expensive than in Sharjah. Cities ranked 4637th and 4204th ($1231 vs $1419) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 6th in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, respectively. Check South Africa vs the United Arab Emirates comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 1.6 months in Sharjah. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Sharjah ranked 2nd in the United Arab Emirates, while ranked 6312th and 312th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Sharjah infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Sharjah

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

	Cape Town	Sharjah
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$5.44
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$32.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$8.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$9.56
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$4.13
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.92
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$674
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$578
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$1188
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$1064
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$154
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$234
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$108
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	4.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$10301
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$8167
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$1.63
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$66.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$9.18
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.68
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$2.02
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$2.73
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$10.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$6.95
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$9.51
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.99
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.51
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.25
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.01
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.41
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$2.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$6.79
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$1.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$6.08
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$4.69
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$2.47
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$2.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$68.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$12.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$46.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$4.69
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$49.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$104
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$260
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$6883

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 Sharjah

Distance	City	Cost of living
10 km or 6.2 mi	Ajman	$2521
13 km or 8 mi	Dubai	$2514
28 km or 17 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
95 km or 59 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
98 km or 61 mi	Fujairah	$1228
133 km or 82 mi	Al Ain	$1449
142 km or 88 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
222 km or 138 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
259 km or 161 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
337 km or 210 mi	Seeb	$1078
346 km or 215 mi	Nizwa	$792
377 km or 235 mi	Muscat	$1081
388 km or 241 mi	Doha	$1849
392 km or 243 mi	Al Khor	$1770
394 km or 245 mi	Jahrom	$530
434 km or 270 mi	Fasa	$529
436 km or 271 mi	Jiroft	$568
456 km or 283 mi	Sirjan	$534
491 km or 305 mi	Manama	$1237
492 km or 306 mi	Riffa	$1201
493 km or 307 mi	Isa Town	$1230
510 km or 317 mi	Bam	$557
526 km or 327 mi	Chabahar	$573
534 km or 332 mi	Dhahran	$908
543 km or 337 mi	Dammam	$1008
550 km or 342 mi	Shiraz	$553
563 km or 350 mi	Marvdasht	$530
564 km or 350 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
564 km or 351 mi	Qatif	$873
566 km or 352 mi	Iranshahr	$624
572 km or 355 mi	Kerman	$761
575 km or 358 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
599 km or 372 mi	Borazjan	$477
600 km or 373 mi	Jubail	$930
600 km or 373 mi	Kazerun	$503
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$453
699 km or 434 mi	Yasuj	$463
709 km or 440 mi	Zahedan	$808
734 km or 456 mi	Yazd	$545
771 km or 479 mi	Behbahan	$483