Cape Town vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$958
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$2895
🏠 One person rent	$603	$495
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$1237
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$274
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$96.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$1649
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	55	96
😀 Quality of life	59	79
🏙️ Population	3.78M	17.7M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 17% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 4849th and 5948th ($1120 vs $958) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 13th 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 1.7 months in Shenzhen. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 5407th and 556th 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	$7.8	$3.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$28.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$5.73
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$1.13
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$3.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$713
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$370
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$1800
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$997
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$41.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$63.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$15
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	4.47%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$13100
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$6892
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$28.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$4.62
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$2.01
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$2.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.16
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$12.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$4.65
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.95
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.41
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.48
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.02
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.08
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$13.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$3.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$5.44
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$5.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$1.69
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$1.96
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$43.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$7.07
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$33.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$61.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$79.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$605
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$24117

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	$850
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$649
371 km or 231 mi	George	$790
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$901
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$970
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$741
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$792
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$953
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$859
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1286
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$703
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$581
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$627
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$862
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$774
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$832
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$788
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$809
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$779
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$692
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$690
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$717
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$971
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$943
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$718
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$654
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$874
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$840
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$997
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$834
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$818
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$790

Cities near Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2427
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2753
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$641
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$678
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1590
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$491
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$629
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$830
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$763
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$602
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$1014
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$824
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$801
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$808
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$806
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$839
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$895
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$726
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$852
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$691
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$605
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$795
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$592
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$819
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$783
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$780
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$774
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$774
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$813
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$746
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$794
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$781
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$713
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$731
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$725
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$807
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$671
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$821
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$538
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$618