Cost of living comparison

South Africa

compared to

South Korea

Seoul vs. Cape Town Cost of Living Summary

Seoul is 20.6% more expensive than Cape Town.

Restaurants: pay 5.8% less in Seoul
Groceries: pay 2.1 times more in Seoul
Transportation: pay 16.5% less in Seoul
Housing: pay 4.8% less in Seoul
Childcare: pay 4.9 times more in Seoul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 26.7% more in Seoul
Clothing: pay 16.6% less in Seoul

The cost of childcare, groceries, and entertainment and sports in Seoul are more expensive than in Cape Town. Expenses including clothing, transportation, restaurants, and housing are lower in Seoul. Notably, childcare and groceries are significantly more expensive in Seoul.

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Seoul vs. Cape Town Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 5.8% less for restaurants

	Cape Town	Seoul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$12.02 ZAR198.22	$8.96 ₩11,955	-25.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.01 ZAR99.11	$7.46 ₩9,962	+24.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.30 ZAR21.44	$1.58 ₩2,112	+21.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.99 ZAR16.37	$0.79 ₩1,049	-20.8%
Average			-5.8%

Cape Town vs. Seoul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.1 times more for groceries

	Cape Town	Seoul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.23 ZAR20.34	$3.10 ₩4,134	+151.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.39 ZAR72.41	$8.84 ₩11,798	+101.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.99 ZAR82.36	$7.79 ₩10,403	+56.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.14 ZAR51.78	$3.61 ₩4,813	+14.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.07 ZAR50.65	$4.74 ₩6,328	+54.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.85 ZAR13.99	$3.46 ₩4,624	+308.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.87 ZAR14.35	$1.57 ₩2,091	+80.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.77 ZAR12.72	$2.59 ₩3,462	+236.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.95 ZAR15.70	$2.83 ₩3,782	+197.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZAR11.51	$1.66 ₩2,211	+137.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.68 ZAR11.29	$1.16 ₩1,542	+68.7%
Average			+113.2%

Cape Town vs. Seoul - Cost of groceries

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pay 16.5% less for transportation

	Cape Town	Seoul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.86 ZAR96.61	$5.53 ₩7,384	-5.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$60.09 ZAR991.09	$46.28 ₩61,767	-23.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	$29,385.60 ₩39M	-17.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.62 ZAR208.13	$8.51 ₩11,357	-32.6%
Average			-16.5%

Cape Town vs. Seoul - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.8% less for housing

	Cape Town	Seoul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.98 ZAR659.39	$20.82 ₩27,787	-47.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,017.49 ZAR16,782.53	$886.39 ₩1M	-12.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$706.64 ZAR11,655.27	$620.25 ₩828K	-12.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$88.53 ZAR1,460.27	$162.69 ₩217K	+83.8%
Average			-4.8%

Cape Town vs. Seoul - Cost of housing

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pay 4.9 times more for childcare

	Cape Town	Seoul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$262.39 ZAR4,327.78	$1,927.59 ₩3M	+634.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,820.14 ZAR112K	$22,602.27 ₩30M	+231.4%
Average			+393.4%

Cape Town vs. Seoul - Cost of childcare

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pay 26.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Cape Town	Seoul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.00 ZAR49.55	$3.73 ₩4,981	+24.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.43 ZAR40.04	$4.10 ₩5,473	+68.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.61 ZAR59.47	$3.36 ₩4,483	-6.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.37 ZAR814.26	$58.22 ₩77,707	+17.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.01 ZAR148.66	$11.20 ₩14,944	+24.2%
Average			+26.7%

Cape Town vs. Seoul - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 16.6% less for clothing

	Cape Town	Seoul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$55.49 ZAR915.30	$57.88 ₩77,255	+4.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$32.30 ZAR532.71	$32.77 ₩43,743	+1.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$119.84 ZAR1,976.68	$69.99 ₩93,417	-41.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.58 ZAR1,741.49	$82.45 ₩110K	-21.9%
Average			-16.6%

Cape Town vs. Seoul - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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Size Comparison · See true size

Cape Town is about 4.1 times bigger than Seoul.

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