Cape Town vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$878
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$2307
🏠 One person rent	$681	$456
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$808
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$253
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$83.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$969
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	56	96
😀 Quality of life	55	78
🏙️ Population	3.78M	17.5M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 40% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 4637th and 6334th ($1231 vs $878) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 17th 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 1.1 months in Shenzhen. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 6312th and 1094th 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	$11.5	$3.52
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$28.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$4.93
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.26
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$3.12
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.5
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$619
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$350
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$1122
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$637
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$40.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$61.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$12.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	3.84%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$12494
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$5776
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.42
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$21
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$4.58
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.76
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$1.82
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$12.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$3.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.85
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.36
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.64
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.24
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.01
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$1.08
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$12.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$5.34
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$6.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.65
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$1.96
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$43.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$7.06
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$34
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$9.65
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$47.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$73.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$444
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$22402

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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2414
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2718
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$662
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$662
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1746
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$518
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$608
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$829
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$758
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$589
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$941
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$827
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$766
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$777
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$794
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$816
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$892
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$579
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$451
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$589
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$669
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$454
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$809
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$765
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$766
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$780
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$773
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$897
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$750
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$726
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$790
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$697
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$693
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$707
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$677
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$901
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$546
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$634