Cape Town vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$2694
🏠 One person rent	$582	$478
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$1142
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$261
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$85.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$1771
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	56	96
😀 Quality of life	58	80
🏙️ Population	3.78M	17.7M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 17% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 5016th and 5950th ($1071 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 12th 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 1.9 months in Shenzhen. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 5491st and 545th 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 Shenzhen infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Shenzhen

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

	Cape Town	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$3.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$27.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$5.23
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$3.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$667
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$1650
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$917
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$65.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$13.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	4.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$12583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$6551
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$23.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$4.51
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$4.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$13.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$48.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$33.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$9.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$78
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$22267

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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2432
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$653
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$656
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1588
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$461
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$601
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$804
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$774
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$611
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$936
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$812
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$764
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$794
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$823
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$877
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$569
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$443
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$581
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$655
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$451
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$803
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$755
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$758
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$761
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$756
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$761
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$724
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$771
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$649
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$702
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$688
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$650
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$823
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$522
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$609