Cape Town vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$971
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$1777
🏠 One person rent	$603	$568
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$574
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$243
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$92.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$1724
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	55	62
😀 Quality of life	59	39
🏙️ Population	3.78M	1.27M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 15% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 4849th and 5883rd ($1120 vs $971) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th in South Africa.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 1.8 months in Soweto. Ranked 1st vs 11th best cities to live in South Africa, and 5407th vs 7063rd among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Soweto infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/cape-town/soweto.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs Soweto infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/soweto" target="_blank">Cape Town vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cape Town vs Soweto

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

	Cape Town	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.8	$6.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$28
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$4.09
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$2.03
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$883
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$368
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$544
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$421
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$61.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$92.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$35.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	11.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$917
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$735
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$2.22
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$32.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$8.62
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$0.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$2.68
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$7.79
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$4.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$6.47
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.63
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.48
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.32
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.23
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$7.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$1.52
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$3.04
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$2.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$0.52
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$13.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$6.19
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$22
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$3.15
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$50.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$74.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$216
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$4830

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 Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$874
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$997
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$717
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$822
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$838
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$696
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$909
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$848
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$943
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$819
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$788
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$841
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$774
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$809
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$692
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$718
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$690
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$654
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$623
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$791
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$627
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$459
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$581
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$859
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$554
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$600
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$1003
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1116
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$834
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$585
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045