Cape Town vs Zurich - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Cape Town	Zurich
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$3380
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2144	$8333
🏠 One person rent	$484	$1991
🏘️ Family rent	$966	$3524
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$899
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.2	$214
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1518	$6558
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	55	81
😀 Quality of life	60	97
🏙️ Population	434K	443K

The cost of living in Cape Town is 74% less expensive than in Zurich. Cities ranked 6078th and 31st ($881 vs $3380) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in South Africa and Switzerland, respectively. Check South Africa vs Switzerland comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Cape Town compared to 1.9 months in Zurich. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Zurich ranked 1st in Switzerland, while ranked 5406th and 6th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cape Town vs Zurich infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Zurich

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

	Cape Town	Zurich
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.47	$25.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.2	$114
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$18.5
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.04	$8.65
☕ Cappuccino	$1.94	$6.14
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$5.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$536	$2331
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$353	$1597
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1202	$4197
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$749	$2921
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.2	$193
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$294
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.2	$54.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	2.38%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1890	$11003
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$7611
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$5.03
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.8	$104
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.17	$40.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$2.07
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$1.97
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$3.34
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.39	$7.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.96	$21.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$26
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$46.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$3.99
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$2.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$3.42
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$4.64
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.45
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$2.92
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$1.11
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$3.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.51	$13.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$2.44
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.62	$10
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$19.7
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.76	$6.02
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.22	$3.6
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$3.56
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$91.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.42	$21.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.9	$154
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.3	$50.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$145
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.4	$143
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$172	$2684
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4013	$29266

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	$773
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$632
371 km or 231 mi	George	$684
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$805
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$866
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$643
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$704
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$703
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$753
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$710
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$683
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$511
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$535
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$689
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$682
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$765
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$701
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$719
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$738
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$631
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$633
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$637
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$875
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$845
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$656
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$603
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$908
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$776
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$807
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$889
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$780
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$751
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$718

Cities near Zurich

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Altstetten	$3073
6.4 km or 4 mi	Dubendorf	$3200
11 km or 6.6 mi	Dietikon	$2861
14 km or 8.6 mi	Horgen	$3051
14 km or 8.6 mi	Uster	$3059
16 km or 9.7 mi	Bulach	$2930
19 km or 12 mi	Wettingen	$3041
19 km or 12 mi	Wadenswil	$3001
19 km or 12 mi	Winterthur	$3178
20 km or 13 mi	Wetzikon	$2949
20 km or 13 mi	Baden	$3128
20 km or 13 mi	Baar	$3083
23 km or 15 mi	Zug	$3444
28 km or 17 mi	Rapperswil-Jona	$2916
33 km or 21 mi	Frauenfeld	$2436
36 km or 22 mi	Schaffhausen	$2354
37 km or 23 mi	Waldshut-Tiengen	$1533
37 km or 23 mi	Aarau	$2142
38 km or 24 mi	Emmen	$2882
40 km or 25 mi	Wil	$2431
40 km or 25 mi	Lucerne	$2925
43 km or 27 mi	Kriens	$2838
48 km or 30 mi	Singen	$1660
51 km or 32 mi	Radolfzell	$1806
56 km or 35 mi	Kreuzlingen	$2649
57 km or 36 mi	Konstanz	$2182
60 km or 37 mi	Rheinfelden	$1510
63 km or 39 mi	St. Gallen	$2322
63 km or 39 mi	Uberlingen	$1910
64 km or 40 mi	Donaueschingen	$1412
70 km or 44 mi	Riehen	$3296
71 km or 44 mi	Tuttlingen	$1394
71 km or 44 mi	Lorrach	$1492
74 km or 46 mi	Weil am Rhein	$1499
74 km or 46 mi	Basel	$2820
76 km or 47 mi	Villingen-Schwenningen	$1326
77 km or 48 mi	Saint-Louis	$1307
77 km or 48 mi	Friedrichshafen	$1717
77 km or 48 mi	Schaan	$2243
78 km or 48 mi	Allschwil	$2846