Cost of living comparison

compared to

Cape Town vs. Rome Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 35.0% cheaper than Rome.

Restaurants: pay 43.5% less in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 40.7% less in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 35.6% less in Cape Town
Housing: pay 23.5% less in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 56.7% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 36.2% less in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 8.8% less in Cape Town

Expenses including childcare, restaurants, groceries, entertainment and sports, transportation, and housing are lower in Cape Town.

Cape Town vs. Rome Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 43.5% less for restaurants

	Rome	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$17.52 €15.05	$11.47 ZAR194.18	-34.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 €10.03	$5.16 ZAR87.38	-55.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.50 €2.15	$1.20 ZAR20.35	-52.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.34 €1.15	$0.92 ZAR15.53	-31.5%
Average			-43.5%

Rome vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 40.7% less for groceries

	Rome	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$2.21 €1.90	$1.14 ZAR19.21	-48.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.54 €8.19	$4.37 ZAR73.94	-54.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.12 €6.11	$4.50 ZAR76.09	-36.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.62 €3.97	$2.49 ZAR42.19	-46.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.53 €4.75	$2.43 ZAR41.18	-56.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.21 €1.04	$0.78 ZAR13.27	-35.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.04 €0.89	$0.76 ZAR12.83	-27.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.08 €0.92	$0.74 ZAR12.54	-31.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.44 €1.23	$0.78 ZAR13.19	-45.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 €0.73	$0.60 ZAR10.08	-29.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.98 €0.84	$0.62 ZAR10.51	-36.6%
Average			-40.7%

Rome vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 35.6% less for transportation

	Rome	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.66 €6.58	$4.73 ZAR80.12	-38.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$40.88 €35.11	$28.68 ZAR485.44	-29.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,199.74 €25,077.06	$21,796.50 ZAR368,934.03	-25.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$19.86 €17.05	$10.15 ZAR171.85	-48.9%
Average			-35.6%

Rome vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 23.5% less for housing

	Rome	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$32.12 €27.58	$42.97 ZAR727.40	+33.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,436.63 €1,233.79	$838.02 ZAR14,184.54	-41.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$927.65 €796.68	$559.94 ZAR9,477.63	-39.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$171.74 €147.49	$91.96 ZAR1,556.46	-46.5%
Average			-23.5%

Rome vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 56.7% less for childcare

	Rome	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$568.18 €487.96	$228.00 ZAR3,859.24	-59.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,951.36 €9,405.15	$5,090.62 ZAR86,165.43	-53.5%
Average			-56.7%

Rome vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 36.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Rome	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.84 €5.02	$2.87 ZAR48.54	-50.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.01 €1.73	$2.12 ZAR35.82	+5.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$7.18 €6.17	$3.15 ZAR53.40	-56.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$70.65 €60.67	$44.05 ZAR745.55	-37.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.68 €10.03	$6.88 ZAR116.51	-41.1%
Average			-36.2%

Rome vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 8.8% less for clothing

	Rome	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$81.76 €70.22	$55.23 ZAR934.82	-32.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$37.76 €32.43	$33.91 ZAR573.94	-10.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$88.68 €76.16	$117.06 ZAR1,981.48	+32.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$116.80 €100.31	$88.13 ZAR1,491.79	-24.5%
Average			-8.8%

Rome vs. Cape Town - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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

More cost comparisons

Rome vs.

Ottawa

Rome vs.

Hanoi

Rome vs.

Phnom Penh

Rome vs.

Canberra

Rome vs.

Paris

Rome vs.

London

Rome vs.

Mexico City

Rome vs.

Dodoma

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Italy vs. South Africa. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Italy 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

Add prices for Rome

Add prices for Cape Town

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Cape Town or Rome. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.