Cost of living comparison

Sweden

compared to

South Africa

Cape Town vs. Stockholm Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 36.7% cheaper than Stockholm.

Restaurants: pay 47.2% less in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 40.0% less in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 18.4% less in Cape Town
Housing: pay 38.3% less in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 16.7% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 45.3% less in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 39.0% less in Cape Town

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

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Cape Town vs. Stockholm Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 47.2% less for restaurants

	Stockholm	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$17.99 SEK178.38	$12.02 ZAR198.22	-33.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.90 SEK117.93	$6.01 ZAR99.11	-49.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$3.66 SEK36.32	$1.30 ZAR21.44	-64.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$3.09 SEK30.60	$0.99 ZAR16.37	-67.8%
Average			-47.2%

Stockholm vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 40.0% less for groceries

	Stockholm	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$3.97 SEK39.36	$1.23 ZAR20.34	-68.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.37 SEK63.11	$4.39 ZAR72.41	-31.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.67 SEK66.09	$4.99 ZAR82.36	-25.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.11 SEK50.68	$3.14 ZAR51.78	-38.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.83 SEK57.75	$3.07 ZAR50.65	-47.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.60 SEK15.85	$0.85 ZAR13.99	-46.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.26 SEK12.50	$0.87 ZAR14.35	-31.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.44 SEK14.23	$0.77 ZAR12.72	-46.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.02 SEK20.03	$0.95 ZAR15.70	-52.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.79 SEK7.78	$0.70 ZAR11.51	-11.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.80 SEK7.94	$0.68 ZAR11.29	-14.5%
Average			-40.0%

Stockholm vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 18.4% less for transportation

	Stockholm	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.72 SEK66.59	$5.86 ZAR96.61	-12.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$105.97 SEK1,050.45	$60.09 ZAR991.09	-43.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$32,980.57 SEK327K	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+7.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.85 SEK176.99	$12.62 ZAR208.13	-29.3%
Average			-18.4%

Stockholm vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 38.3% less for housing

	Stockholm	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.70 SEK393.49	$39.98 ZAR659.39	+0.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,674.52 SEK16,599.03	$1,017.49 ZAR16,782.53	-39.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,080.50 SEK10,710.63	$706.64 ZAR11,655.27	-34.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$190.15 SEK1,884.88	$88.53 ZAR1,460.27	-53.4%
Average			-38.3%

Stockholm vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 16.7% less for childcare

	Stockholm	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$157.47 SEK1,560.91	$262.39 ZAR4,327.78	+66.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,395.31 SEK163K	$6,820.14 ZAR112K	-58.4%
Average			-16.7%

Stockholm vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 45.3% less for entertainment and sports

	Stockholm	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$7.95 SEK78.78	$3.00 ZAR49.55	-62.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.05 SEK50.04	$2.43 ZAR40.04	-51.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$8.70 SEK86.22	$3.61 ZAR59.47	-58.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$46.98 SEK465.67	$49.37 ZAR814.26	+5.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$18.99 SEK188.29	$9.01 ZAR148.66	-52.5%
Average			-45.3%

Stockholm vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 39.0% less for clothing

	Stockholm	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$111.49 SEK1,105.16	$55.49 ZAR915.30	-50.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$58.75 SEK582.33	$32.30 ZAR532.71	-45.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$135.62 SEK1,344.36	$119.84 ZAR1,976.68	-11.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$184.97 SEK1,833.59	$105.58 ZAR1,741.49	-42.9%
Average			-39.0%

Stockholm 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: Stockholm vs. Cape Town

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Size Comparison · See true size

Stockholm is about 12 times smaller than Cape Town.

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