Cape Town vs Surat - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cape Town	Surat
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1231	$705
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2814	$990
🏠 One person rent	$681	$458
🏘️ Family rent	$1180	$305
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$161
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$45.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$271
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	56	40
😀 Quality of life	55	55
🏙️ Population	3.78M	5.94M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 75% more expensive than in Surat. Cities ranked 4637th and 7068th ($1231 vs $705) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in South Africa and India, respectively. Check South Africa vs India comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.4 months in Surat. Cape Town ranked 5th best city to live in South Africa vs Surat ranked 45th in India, while ranked 6312th and 6284th 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 Surat infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Surat

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

	Cape Town	Surat
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$3.24
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.4	$11.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.16	$3.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$3.41
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$761	$215
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$513	$484
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1355	$390
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$234
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$20.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$31.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.4	$7.65
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.58%	9.18%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1957	$822
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1290	$576
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.23
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.5	$5.63
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.7	$2.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$0.58
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$0.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.53	$0.99
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.62	$4.66
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.36	$2.87
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.75	$8.04
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.65
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$0.79
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.64
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$0.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$0.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.67	$0.96
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.78	$8.27
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$2.51
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.18	$3.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.15	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$3.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$0.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.56	$0.58
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.3	$18.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.86	$3.09
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.1	$14.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.69	$2.36
👖 Brand Jeans	$56	$24.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$42.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$228	$59.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4978	$922

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 Surat

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Navsari	$278
98 km or 61 mi	Bhavnagar	$291
131 km or 82 mi	Vadodara	$374
164 km or 102 mi	Nashik	$350
170 km or 106 mi	Nadiad	$375
189 km or 117 mi	Vasai	$267
192 km or 119 mi	Malegaon	$382
196 km or 122 mi	Godhra	$366
208 km or 130 mi	Ahmedabad	$442
209 km or 130 mi	Bhiwandi	$363
216 km or 134 mi	Kalyan	$399
222 km or 138 mi	Thane	$487
228 km or 142 mi	Gandhinagar	$407
239 km or 148 mi	Navi Mumbai	$503
244 km or 152 mi	Rajkot	$324
245 km or 152 mi	Mumbai	$705
274 km or 170 mi	Mehsana	$382
284 km or 177 mi	Jalgaon	$303
296 km or 184 mi	Aurangabad	$349
314 km or 195 mi	Pune	$517
332 km or 206 mi	Ratlam	$303
338 km or 210 mi	Porbandar	$330
356 km or 221 mi	Indore	$361
377 km or 234 mi	Ujjain	$264
389 km or 242 mi	Udaipur	$315
399 km or 248 mi	Bhuj	$290
406 km or 252 mi	Satara	$273
436 km or 271 mi	Akola	$297
499 km or 310 mi	Latur	$396
500 km or 311 mi	Bhilwara	$328
505 km or 314 mi	Solapur	$285
511 km or 318 mi	Amravati	$310
512 km or 318 mi	Sangli	$290
514 km or 320 mi	Pali	$305
518 km or 322 mi	Kolhapur	$309
521 km or 324 mi	Nanded	$328
526 km or 327 mi	Bhopal	$366
526 km or 327 mi	Ichalkaranji	$302
541 km or 336 mi	Kota	$333
570 km or 354 mi	Bijapur	$333