Cost of living comparison

compared to

Cape Town vs. Chiang Mai Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 36.2% more expensive than Chiang Mai.

Restaurants: pay 2.6 times more in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 0.2% less in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 7.5% more in Cape Town
Housing: pay 2.0 times more in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 65.6% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.2% more in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 29.2% more in Cape Town

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

Cape Town vs. Chiang Mai Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Cape Town instead of Chiang Mai, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.6 times more for restaurants

	Chiang Mai	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.02 THB64.12	$11.47 ZAR194.18	+469.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.05 THB255.99	$5.16 ZAR87.38	-35.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 THB25.23	$1.20 ZAR20.35	+51.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.34 THB10.80	$0.92 ZAR15.53	+170.3%
Average			+163.8%

Chiang Mai vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 0.2% less for groceries

	Chiang Mai	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$1.58 THB50.31	$1.14 ZAR19.21	-28.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.36 THB266.13	$4.37 ZAR73.94	-47.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.70 THB213.16	$4.50 ZAR76.09	-32.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.07 THB65.77	$2.49 ZAR42.19	+20.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.36 THB43.31	$2.43 ZAR41.18	+78.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.33 THB42.38	$0.78 ZAR13.27	-41.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.53 THB16.74	$0.76 ZAR12.83	+44.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.79 THB25.22	$0.74 ZAR12.54	-6.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.74 THB23.68	$0.78 ZAR13.19	+4.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.64 THB20.47	$0.60 ZAR10.08	-7.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.55 THB17.42	$0.62 ZAR10.51	+13.4%
Average			-0.2%

Chiang Mai vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 7.5% more for transportation

	Chiang Mai	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.83 THB153.69	$4.73 ZAR80.12	-2.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$19.14 THB609.04	$28.68 ZAR485.44	+49.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$22,478.88 THB715,197.55	$21,796.50 ZAR368,934.03	-3.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.94 THB379.79	$10.15 ZAR171.85	-14.9%
Average			+7.5%

Chiang Mai vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.0 times more for housing

	Chiang Mai	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$19.34 THB615.25	$42.97 ZAR727.40	+122.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$440.41 THB14,012.16	$838.02 ZAR14,184.54	+90.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$249.32 THB7,932.45	$559.94 ZAR9,477.63	+124.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$51.23 THB1,630.04	$91.96 ZAR1,556.46	+79.5%
Average			+104.2%

Chiang Mai vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 65.6% less for childcare

	Chiang Mai	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$644.65 THB20,510.55	$228.00 ZAR3,859.24	-64.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$15,231.38 THB484,607.99	$5,090.62 ZAR86,165.43	-66.6%
Average			-65.6%

Chiang Mai vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Chiang Mai	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.25 THB71.52	$2.87 ZAR48.54	+27.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.90 THB60.60	$2.12 ZAR35.82	+11.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.34 THB138.11	$3.15 ZAR53.40	-27.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$35.28 THB1,122.37	$44.05 ZAR745.55	+24.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$5.12 THB162.77	$6.88 ZAR116.51	+34.5%
Average			+14.2%

Chiang Mai vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 29.2% more for clothing

	Chiang Mai	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$62.01 THB1,972.96	$55.23 ZAR934.82	-10.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$19.90 THB632.99	$33.91 ZAR573.94	+70.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$93.02 THB2,959.44	$117.06 ZAR1,981.48	+25.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$67.18 THB2,137.37	$88.13 ZAR1,491.79	+31.2%
Average			+29.2%

Chiang Mai 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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