Cost of living comparison

Dominican Republic

compared to

South Africa

Cape Town vs. Punta Cana Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 15.4% more expensive than Punta Cana.

Restaurants: pay 31.6% more in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 7.7% less in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 33.0% more in Cape Town
Housing: pay 10.5% more in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 48.0% more in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.2% more in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 47.5% more in Cape Town

The cost of childcare, clothing, transportation, restaurants, housing, and entertainment and sports in Cape Town are more expensive than in Punta Cana.

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Cape Town vs. Punta Cana Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Cape Town instead of Punta Cana, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 31.6% more for restaurants

	Punta Cana	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.14 DOP499.77	$12.02 ZAR198.22	+47.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.05 DOP432.90	$6.01 ZAR99.11	-14.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.70 DOP42.78	$1.30 ZAR21.44	+86.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.39 DOP24.19	$0.99 ZAR16.37	+152.1%
Average			+31.6%

Punta Cana vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 7.7% less for groceries

	Punta Cana	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$1.77 DOP108.65	$1.23 ZAR20.34	-30.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.15 DOP193.81	$4.39 ZAR72.41	+39.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.50 DOP276.65	$4.99 ZAR82.36	+10.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.48 DOP90.65	$3.14 ZAR51.78	+112.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.63 DOP99.87	$3.07 ZAR50.65	+88.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.33 DOP81.49	$0.85 ZAR13.99	-36.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.64 DOP39.47	$0.87 ZAR14.35	+35.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.49 DOP91.67	$0.77 ZAR12.72	-48.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.99 DOP61.12	$0.95 ZAR15.70	-4.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.60 DOP98.46	$0.70 ZAR11.51	-56.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.33 DOP81.49	$0.68 ZAR11.29	-48.4%
Average			-7.7%

Punta Cana vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 33.0% more for transportation

	Punta Cana	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.25 DOP322.62	$5.86 ZAR96.61	+11.5%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$60.09 ZAR991.09
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$14,922.51 DOP917K	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+137.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$29.02 DOP1,782.54	$12.62 ZAR208.13	-56.5%
Average			+33.0%

Punta Cana vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 10.5% more for housing

	Punta Cana	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$38.69 DOP2,376.72	$39.98 ZAR659.39	+3.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$947.15 DOP58,186.30	$1,017.49 ZAR16,782.53	+7.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	??	$706.64 ZAR11,655.27
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$72.69 DOP4,465.56	$88.53 ZAR1,460.27	+21.8%
Average			+10.5%

Punta Cana vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 48.0% more for childcare

	Punta Cana	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$149.23 DOP9,167.36	$262.39 ZAR4,327.78	+75.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$5,471.59 DOP336K	$6,820.14 ZAR112K	+24.6%
Average			+48.0%

Punta Cana vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 9.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Punta Cana	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.49 DOP152.79	$3.00 ZAR49.55	+20.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.80 DOP110.35	$2.43 ZAR40.04	+35.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.81 DOP295.39	$3.61 ZAR59.47	-25.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$83.13 DOP5,107.02	$49.37 ZAR814.26	-40.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.97 DOP305.58	$9.01 ZAR148.66	+81.2%
Average			+9.2%

Punta Cana vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 47.5% more for clothing

	Punta Cana	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$26.53 DOP1,629.75	$55.49 ZAR915.30	+109.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$45.60 DOP2,801.14	$32.30 ZAR532.71	-29.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$59.69 DOP3,666.94	$119.84 ZAR1,976.68	+100.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$66.32 DOP4,074.38	$105.58 ZAR1,741.49	+59.2%
Average			+47.5%

Punta Cana 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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