Cost of living comparison

China

compared to

South Africa

Cape Town vs. Shanghai Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 19.2% more expensive than Shanghai.

Restaurants: pay 95.4% more in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 9.8% more in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 63.9% more in Cape Town
Housing: pay 26.7% more in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 78.6% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 4.8% more in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 9.0% more in Cape Town

The cost of restaurants, transportation, housing, groceries, clothing, and entertainment and sports in Cape Town are more expensive than in Shanghai. Notably, restaurants is significantly more expensive in Cape Town.

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Cape Town vs. Shanghai Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 95.4% more for restaurants

	Shanghai	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.47 CN¥29.94	$12.02 ZAR198.22	+168.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.22 CN¥34.93	$6.01 ZAR99.11	+15.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.60 CN¥4.01	$1.30 ZAR21.44	+116.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.37 CN¥2.47	$0.99 ZAR16.37	+168.4%
Average			+95.4%

Shanghai vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 9.8% more for groceries

	Shanghai	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$1.98 CN¥13.22	$1.23 ZAR20.34	-37.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.60 CN¥57.52	$4.39 ZAR72.41	-48.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.88 CN¥46.02	$4.99 ZAR82.36	-27.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.70 CN¥11.36	$3.14 ZAR51.78	+84.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.48 CN¥9.89	$3.07 ZAR50.65	+107.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.99 CN¥6.65	$0.85 ZAR13.99	-14.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.77 CN¥5.16	$0.87 ZAR14.35	+12.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 CN¥6.05	$0.77 ZAR12.72	-14.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.77 CN¥5.15	$0.95 ZAR15.70	+23.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.36 CN¥2.40	$0.70 ZAR11.51	+94.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.43 CN¥2.90	$0.68 ZAR11.29	+58.0%
Average			+9.8%

Shanghai vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 63.9% more for transportation

	Shanghai	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.96 CN¥33.21	$5.86 ZAR96.61	+18.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$29.83 CN¥199.59	$60.09 ZAR991.09	+101.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$19,374.76 CN¥130K	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+82.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.67 CN¥37.92	$12.62 ZAR208.13	+122.6%
Average			+63.9%

Shanghai vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 26.7% more for housing

	Shanghai	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.55 CN¥70.59	$39.98 ZAR659.39	+278.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,036.96 CN¥6,938.07	$1,017.49 ZAR16,782.53	-1.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$588.71 CN¥3,938.93	$706.64 ZAR11,655.27	+20.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$44.06 CN¥294.77	$88.53 ZAR1,460.27	+101.0%
Average			+26.7%

Shanghai vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 78.6% less for childcare

	Shanghai	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,413.50 CN¥9,457.42	$262.39 ZAR4,327.78	-81.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$27,686.22 CN¥185K	$6,820.14 ZAR112K	-75.4%
Average			-78.6%

Shanghai vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 4.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Shanghai	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.19 CN¥7.98	$3.00 ZAR49.55	+151.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.35 CN¥22.41	$2.43 ZAR40.04	-27.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.73 CN¥24.95	$3.61 ZAR59.47	-3.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$65.69 CN¥439.52	$49.37 ZAR814.26	-24.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.95 CN¥59.88	$9.01 ZAR148.66	+0.7%
Average			+4.8%

Shanghai vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 9.0% more for clothing

	Shanghai	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$54.37 CN¥363.79	$55.49 ZAR915.30	+2.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$37.09 CN¥248.19	$32.30 ZAR532.71	-12.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$75.49 CN¥505.08	$119.84 ZAR1,976.68	+58.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.70 CN¥707.25	$105.58 ZAR1,741.49	-0.1%
Average			+9.0%

Shanghai 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

Compare further: Shanghai vs. Cape Town

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Size Comparison · See true size

Shanghai is about 2.6 times bigger than Cape Town.

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