Cost of living comparison

compared to

Cape Town vs. Nairobi Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 34.7% more expensive than Nairobi.

Restaurants: pay 52.5% more in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 24.4% more in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 14.9% less in Cape Town
Housing: pay 2.2 times more in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 20.1% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 1.1% more in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 82.9% more in Cape Town

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

Cape Town vs. Nairobi Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 52.5% more for restaurants

	Nairobi	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.80 KES750.88	$11.47 ZAR194.18	+97.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.97 KES901.06	$5.16 ZAR87.38	-25.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.70 KES90.79	$1.20 ZAR20.35	+71.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.55 KES71.04	$0.92 ZAR15.53	+67.1%
Average			+52.5%

Nairobi vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 24.4% more for groceries

	Nairobi	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$0.55 KES70.69	$1.14 ZAR19.21	+107.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.57 KES720.08	$4.37 ZAR73.94	-21.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.36 KES434.10	$4.50 ZAR76.09	+34.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.64 KES212.73	$2.49 ZAR42.19	+51.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.92 KES377.51	$2.43 ZAR41.18	-16.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.41 KES181.96	$0.78 ZAR13.27	-44.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.47 KES61.40	$0.76 ZAR12.83	+59.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.89 KES115.07	$0.74 ZAR12.54	-16.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.46 KES59.01	$0.78 ZAR13.19	+70.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.49 KES63.50	$0.60 ZAR10.08	+21.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.51 KES65.52	$0.62 ZAR10.51	+22.5%
Average			+24.4%

Nairobi vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 14.9% less for transportation

	Nairobi	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.40 KES698.38	$4.73 ZAR80.12	-12.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.96 KES4,004.71	$28.68 ZAR485.44	-7.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,671.83 KES2,803,297.63	$21,796.50 ZAR368,934.03	+0.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.03 KES2,202.59	$10.15 ZAR171.85	-40.4%
Average			-14.9%

Nairobi vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.2 times more for housing

	Nairobi	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.86 KES5,156.50	$42.97 ZAR727.40	+7.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$476.96 KES61,695.24	$838.02 ZAR14,184.54	+75.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$206.31 KES26,686.56	$559.94 ZAR9,477.63	+171.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$29.32 KES3,793.22	$91.96 ZAR1,556.46	+213.6%
Average			+117.1%

Nairobi vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 20.1% less for childcare

	Nairobi	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$224.14 KES28,992.44	$228.00 ZAR3,859.24	+1.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,775.09 KES1,135,076.41	$5,090.62 ZAR86,165.43	-42.0%
Average			-20.1%

Nairobi vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 1.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Nairobi	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.32 KES300.35	$2.87 ZAR48.54	+23.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.37 KES306.55	$2.12 ZAR35.82	-10.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.10 KES400.47	$3.15 ZAR53.40	+1.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$45.30 KES5,859.39	$44.05 ZAR745.55	-2.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.35 KES951.12	$6.88 ZAR116.51	-6.4%
Average			+1.1%

Nairobi vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 82.9% more for clothing

	Nairobi	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$19.62 KES2,538.28	$55.23 ZAR934.82	+181.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$24.88 KES3,218.07	$33.91 ZAR573.94	+36.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$67.92 KES8,785.33	$117.06 ZAR1,981.48	+72.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$62.28 KES8,055.48	$88.13 ZAR1,491.79	+41.5%
Average			+82.9%

Nairobi 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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