Cost of living comparison
compared to
Cape Town vs. Quito Cost of Living Summary
Cape Town is 50.9% more expensive than Quito.
Cape Town vs. Quito Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Cape Town instead of Quito, you would:
pay 23.0% more for restaurants
|
Quito
|
Cape Town
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$6.00
|
$12.02
ZAR198.22
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$7.67
|
$6.01
ZAR99.11
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$1.40
|
$1.30
ZAR21.44
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$1.12
|
$0.99
ZAR16.37
|
|
Quito vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants
pay 26.3% more for groceries
|
Quito
|
Cape Town
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$1.57
|
$1.23
ZAR20.34
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$3.21
|
$4.39
ZAR72.41
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$4.29
|
$4.99
ZAR82.36
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$2.14
|
$3.14
ZAR51.78
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$2.55
|
$3.07
ZAR50.65
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$1.03
|
$0.85
ZAR13.99
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.55
|
$0.87
ZAR14.35
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.59
|
$0.77
ZAR12.72
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$0.50
|
$0.95
ZAR15.70
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.55
|
$0.70
ZAR11.51
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$0.47
|
$0.68
ZAR11.29
|
|
Quito vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries
pay 87.3% more for transportation
|
Quito
|
Cape Town
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.17
|
$5.86
ZAR96.61
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$21.00
|
$60.09
ZAR991.09
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$21,000.00
|
$35,391.94
ZAR584K
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$13.50
|
$12.62
ZAR208.13
|
|
Quito vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation
pay 2.3 times more for housing
|
Quito
|
Cape Town
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$28.45
|
$39.98
ZAR659.39
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$482.78
|
$1,017.49
ZAR16,782.53
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$313.44
|
$706.64
ZAR11,655.27
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$21.90
|
$88.53
ZAR1,460.27
|
|
Quito vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing
pay 48.1% less for childcare
|
Quito
|
Cape Town
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$743.00
|
$262.39
ZAR4,327.78
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$8,951.43
|
$6,820.14
ZAR112K
|
|
Quito vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare
pay 4.5% less for entertainment and sports
|
Quito
|
Cape Town
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$3.50
|
$3.00
ZAR49.55
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$3.38
|
$2.43
ZAR40.04
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$6.00
|
$3.61
ZAR59.47
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$46.22
|
$49.37
ZAR814.26
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$6.40
|
$9.01
ZAR148.66
|
|
Quito vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 15.0% less for clothing
|
Quito
|
Cape Town
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$70.10
|
$55.49
ZAR915.30
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$49.62
|
$32.30
ZAR532.71
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$115.66
|
$119.84
ZAR1,976.68
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$107.92
|
$105.58
ZAR1,741.49
|
|
Quito vs. Cape Town - Cost of clothing
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
Change currency:
Compare further: Quito vs. Cape Town
Compare countries by overall cost of living
See the
cost of living in Ecuador vs. South Africa.
This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Ecuador and South Africa.
Help us improve these prices
MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate.
Learn more
Ask the Elsewhere Community
Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Cape Town or Quito. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.