Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

South Africa

Cape Town vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 65.7% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 3.0 times more in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 18.9% more in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 2.0 times more in Cape Town
Housing: pay 91.6% more in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 58.4% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.2 times more in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 10.0% more in Cape Town

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

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Cape Town vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Cape Town instead of Ho Chi Minh City, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 3.0 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,832	$12.02 ZAR198.22	+524.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$6.01 ZAR99.11	+30.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,905	$1.30 ZAR21.44	+142.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,590	$0.99 ZAR16.37	+199.3%
Average			+204.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 18.9% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,843	$1.23 ZAR20.34	+14.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$4.39 ZAR72.41	-27.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$4.99 ZAR82.36	-18.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,008	$3.14 ZAR51.78	+93.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,570	$3.07 ZAR50.65	+86.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,261	$0.85 ZAR13.99	-37.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,953	$0.87 ZAR14.35	+50.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,715	$0.77 ZAR12.72	+6.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,918	$0.95 ZAR15.70	+65.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,104	$0.70 ZAR11.51	+28.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,662	$0.68 ZAR11.29	+29.7%
Average			+18.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.0 times more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,950	$5.86 ZAR96.61	+65.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$60.09 ZAR991.09	+420.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+15.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$12.62 ZAR208.13	+117.5%
Average			+102.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 91.6% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$39.98 ZAR659.39	+282.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$1,017.49 ZAR16,782.53	+73.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$706.64 ZAR11,655.27	+137.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$88.53 ZAR1,460.27	+11.7%
Average			+91.6%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 58.4% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$262.39 ZAR4,327.78	-40.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$6,820.14 ZAR112K	-71.1%
Average			-58.4%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.2 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,762	$3.00 ZAR49.55	+190.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,978	$2.43 ZAR40.04	+33.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,892	$3.61 ZAR59.47	+192.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$49.37 ZAR814.26	+90.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,697	$9.01 ZAR148.66	+160.2%
Average			+118.0%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 10.0% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$55.49 ZAR915.30	+7.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$32.30 ZAR532.71	-6.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$119.84 ZAR1,976.68	+30.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$105.58 ZAR1,741.49	+11.6%
Average			+10.0%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cape Town - 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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