Cost of living comparison

Samoa

compared to

South Africa

South Africa vs. Samoa Cost of Living Summary

South Africa is 48.5% more expensive than Samoa overall.

Restaurants: pay 66.9% less in South Africa
Groceries: pay 8.1% less in South Africa
Transportation: pay 18.2% less in South Africa
Housing: pay 4.7 times more in South Africa
Entertainment and Sports: pay 33.5% less in South Africa

Expenses including restaurants, entertainment and sports, transportation, and groceries are lower in South Africa. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in South Africa.

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South Africa vs. Samoa Cost Breakdown

If you lived in South Africa instead of Samoa, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 66.9% less for restaurants

	Samoa	South Africa
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$47.26 WST130.00	$10.21 ZAR168.71	-78.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$14.54 WST40.00	$5.91 ZAR97.64	-59.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.82 WST5.00	$1.08 ZAR17.90	-40.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.36 WST3.75	$0.84 ZAR13.80	-38.7%
Average			-66.9%

Samoa vs. South Africa - Cost of restaurants

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pay 8.1% less for groceries

	Samoa	South Africa
Bread 1 loaf	$0.82 WST2.25	$1.07 ZAR17.62	+30.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$0.45 WST1.25	$4.08 ZAR67.43	+798.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.88 WST18.93	$4.58 ZAR75.61	-33.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.27 WST11.76	$2.56 ZAR42.35	-40.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.65 WST4.54	$2.31 ZAR38.22	+40.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.31 WST6.35	$0.81 ZAR13.42	-64.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.82 WST2.27	$0.74 ZAR12.15	-10.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.82 WST2.27	$0.79 ZAR12.97	-4.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.98 WST5.44	$0.77 ZAR12.73	-61.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.65 WST4.54	$0.64 ZAR10.64	-60.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 WST1.36	$0.66 ZAR10.87	+33.0%
Average			-8.1%

Samoa vs. South Africa - Cost of groceries

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pay 18.2% less for transportation

	Samoa	South Africa
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.13 WST11.36	$5.49 ZAR90.67	+33.0%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$65.15 ZAR1,076.21
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$32,517.32 ZAR537K
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$49.07 WST135.00	$7.35 ZAR121.38	-85.0%
Average			-18.2%

Samoa vs. South Africa - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.7 times more for housing

	Samoa	South Africa
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$36.35 WST100.00	$38.93 ZAR643.16	+7.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	??	$421.37 ZAR6,960.81
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	??	$369.24 ZAR6,099.71
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$13.90 WST38.24	$105.57 ZAR1,743.93	+659.5%
Average			+365.4%

Samoa vs. South Africa - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Samoa	South Africa
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$199.53 ZAR3,296.18
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$4,917.78 ZAR81,238.86

Samoa vs. South Africa - Cost of childcare

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pay 33.5% less for entertainment and sports

	Samoa	South Africa
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.45 WST9.50	$2.25 ZAR37.18	-34.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.91 WST8.00	$2.25 ZAR37.24	-22.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.18 WST17.00	$3.16 ZAR52.21	-48.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$31.59 ZAR521.86
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$7.32 ZAR120.89
Average			-33.5%

Samoa vs. South Africa - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Samoa	South Africa
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$52.66 ZAR869.89
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$34.13 ZAR563.79
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$99.75 ZAR1,647.83
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$86.61 ZAR1,430.70

Samoa vs. South Africa - 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Samoa vs. South Africa

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Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

Samoa is about 431 times smaller than South Africa.

Moving from Samoa to South Africa · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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