Cape Town vs Surat - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cape Town	Surat
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1386	$663
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3160	$933
🏠 One person rent	$775	$428
🏘️ Family rent	$1348	$278
🍽️ Food expenses	$359	$152
🚐 Transport expenses	$139	$43.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$405	$267
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	55	40
😀 Quality of life	58	60
🏙️ Population	3.78M	5.94M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 109% more expensive than in Surat. Cities ranked 4336th and 7534th ($1386 vs $663) 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 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Surat ranked 17th in India, while ranked 6134th and 5942nd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$12.2	$3.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.7	$10.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.19	$3.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.03	$3.18
☕ Cappuccino	$2.47	$1.95
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$0.44
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$942	$192
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$591	$451
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$338
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$211
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.4	$22.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$34.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.7	$7.33
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.35%	9.21%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2325	$691
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1508	$415
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.33	$0.24
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.4	$5.28
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11	$2.26
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.06
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$0.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.2	$0.52
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$0.7
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.97	$0.96
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.53	$4.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.77	$2.84
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.45	$6.21
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.65
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$0.68
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$0.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$0.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.77	$0.9
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.22	$7.57
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.47	$1.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.38	$4.43
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$1.88
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$2.83
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.41	$0.8
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.62	$0.54
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$18.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.14	$2.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.2	$13.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$2.21
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.7	$24.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$46.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$272	$49.3
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6197	$877

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	$1421
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$763
371 km or 231 mi	George	$877
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$968
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1020
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$796
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$863
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1033
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$904
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1390
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$773
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$611
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$660
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$953
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$811
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$991
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$872
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$903
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$945
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$691
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$691
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$742
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1031
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$994
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$723
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$663
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1204
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$912
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1040
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1104
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$938
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$998
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$893

Cities near Surat

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Navsari	$267
98 km or 61 mi	Bhavnagar	$273
131 km or 82 mi	Vadodara	$358
164 km or 102 mi	Nashik	$329
170 km or 106 mi	Nadiad	$360
189 km or 117 mi	Vasai	$252
192 km or 119 mi	Malegaon	$370
196 km or 122 mi	Godhra	$350
208 km or 130 mi	Ahmedabad	$433
209 km or 130 mi	Bhiwandi	$335
216 km or 134 mi	Kalyan	$355
222 km or 138 mi	Thane	$464
228 km or 142 mi	Gandhinagar	$391
239 km or 148 mi	Navi Mumbai	$476
244 km or 152 mi	Rajkot	$298
245 km or 152 mi	Mumbai	$717
274 km or 170 mi	Mehsana	$367
284 km or 177 mi	Jalgaon	$285
296 km or 184 mi	Aurangabad	$335
314 km or 195 mi	Pune	$495
332 km or 206 mi	Ratlam	$283
338 km or 210 mi	Porbandar	$312
356 km or 221 mi	Indore	$346
377 km or 234 mi	Ujjain	$241
389 km or 242 mi	Udaipur	$314
399 km or 248 mi	Bhuj	$273
406 km or 252 mi	Satara	$256
436 km or 271 mi	Akola	$282
499 km or 310 mi	Latur	$365
500 km or 311 mi	Bhilwara	$316
505 km or 314 mi	Solapur	$269
511 km or 318 mi	Amravati	$281
512 km or 318 mi	Sangli	$279
514 km or 320 mi	Pali	$299
518 km or 322 mi	Kolhapur	$287
521 km or 324 mi	Nanded	$308
526 km or 327 mi	Bhopal	$335
526 km or 327 mi	Ichalkaranji	$288
541 km or 336 mi	Kota	$309
570 km or 354 mi	Bijapur	$298