Cost of living comparison

compared to

Cape Town vs. Beijing Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 30.2% more expensive than Beijing.

Restaurants: pay 2.3 times more in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 10.3% more in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 35.6% more in Cape Town
Housing: pay 91.8% more in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 73.0% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 12.3% more in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 2.2% more in Cape Town

The cost of restaurants, housing, transportation, entertainment and sports, groceries, and clothing in Cape Town are more expensive than in Beijing. Notably, restaurants and housing are significantly more expensive in Cape Town.

Cape Town vs. Beijing Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Cape Town instead of Beijing, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.3 times more for restaurants

	Beijing	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.21 CN¥29.74	$11.47 ZAR194.18	+172.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.91 CN¥34.69	$5.16 ZAR87.38	+5.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.48 CN¥3.39	$1.20 ZAR20.35	+150.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.31 CN¥2.17	$0.92 ZAR15.53	+199.0%
Average			+131.9%

Beijing vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 10.3% more for groceries

	Beijing	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$1.71 CN¥12.07	$1.14 ZAR19.21	-33.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.47 CN¥52.80	$4.37 ZAR73.94	-41.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.64 CN¥46.96	$4.50 ZAR76.09	-32.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.78 CN¥12.56	$2.49 ZAR42.19	+40.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.53 CN¥10.83	$2.43 ZAR41.18	+58.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.98 CN¥6.95	$0.78 ZAR13.27	-20.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.77 CN¥5.44	$0.76 ZAR12.83	-1.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.80 CN¥5.66	$0.74 ZAR12.54	-7.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.60 CN¥4.26	$0.78 ZAR13.19	+29.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.35 CN¥2.46	$0.60 ZAR10.08	+70.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.41 CN¥2.92	$0.62 ZAR10.51	+50.5%
Average			+10.3%

Beijing vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 35.6% more for transportation

	Beijing	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.21 CN¥29.77	$4.73 ZAR80.12	+12.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$31.54 CN¥223.02	$28.68 ZAR485.44	-9.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$18,225.66 CN¥128,857.25	$21,796.50 ZAR368,934.03	+19.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$4.63 CN¥32.71	$10.15 ZAR171.85	+119.4%
Average			+35.6%

Beijing vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 91.8% more for housing

	Beijing	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$12.93 CN¥91.43	$42.97 ZAR727.40	+232.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$935.23 CN¥6,612.19	$838.02 ZAR14,184.54	-10.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$504.41 CN¥3,566.20	$559.94 ZAR9,477.63	+11.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$39.27 CN¥277.61	$91.96 ZAR1,556.46	+134.2%
Average			+91.8%

Beijing vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 73.0% less for childcare

	Beijing	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$710.76 CN¥5,025.17	$228.00 ZAR3,859.24	-67.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,242.73 CN¥164,328.40	$5,090.62 ZAR86,165.43	-78.1%
Average			-73.0%

Beijing vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 12.3% more for entertainment and sports

	Beijing	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.12 CN¥7.93	$2.87 ZAR48.54	+155.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.90 CN¥20.52	$2.12 ZAR35.82	-27.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.21 CN¥29.74	$3.15 ZAR53.40	-25.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$57.84 CN¥408.91	$44.05 ZAR745.55	-23.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.41 CN¥59.47	$6.88 ZAR116.51	-18.2%
Average			+12.3%

Beijing vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.2% more for clothing

	Beijing	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$62.30 CN¥440.46	$55.23 ZAR934.82	-11.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$36.37 CN¥257.16	$33.91 ZAR573.94	-6.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$81.74 CN¥577.91	$117.06 ZAR1,981.48	+43.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.53 CN¥746.11	$88.13 ZAR1,491.79	-16.5%
Average			+2.2%

Beijing vs. Cape Town - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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