Cost of living comparison

compared to

Cape Town vs. Wellington Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 38.5% cheaper than Wellington.

Restaurants: pay 42.3% less in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 36.4% less in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 39.2% less in Cape Town
Housing: pay 27.3% less in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 64.3% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 39.2% less in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 21.0% less in Cape Town

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

Cape Town vs. Wellington Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 42.3% less for restaurants

	Wellington	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.42 NZ$24.97	$11.47 ZAR194.18	-20.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.23 NZ$15.98	$5.16 ZAR87.38	-44.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.46 NZ$4.26	$1.20 ZAR20.35	-51.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.98 NZ$3.42	$0.92 ZAR15.53	-53.6%
Average			-42.3%

Wellington vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 36.4% less for groceries

	Wellington	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$1.98 NZ$3.42	$1.14 ZAR19.21	-42.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.02 NZ$6.96	$4.37 ZAR73.94	+8.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.79 NZ$11.75	$4.50 ZAR76.09	-33.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.77 NZ$11.73	$2.49 ZAR42.19	-63.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.77 NZ$8.26	$2.43 ZAR41.18	-49.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 NZ$2.36	$0.78 ZAR13.27	-42.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.01 NZ$1.75	$0.76 ZAR12.83	-25.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.33 NZ$2.30	$0.74 ZAR12.54	-44.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.32 NZ$4.01	$0.78 ZAR13.19	-66.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.90 NZ$1.55	$0.60 ZAR10.08	-33.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.68 NZ$1.17	$0.62 ZAR10.51	-8.5%
Average			-36.4%

Wellington vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 39.2% less for transportation

	Wellington	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.14 NZ$10.63	$4.73 ZAR80.12	-22.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$109.62 NZ$189.75	$28.68 ZAR485.44	-73.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,154.21 NZ$53,928.03	$21,796.50 ZAR368,934.03	-30.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.55 NZ$25.19	$10.15 ZAR171.85	-30.2%
Average			-39.2%

Wellington vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 27.3% less for housing

	Wellington	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$48.75 NZ$84.39	$42.97 ZAR727.40	-11.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,240.57 NZ$2,147.43	$838.02 ZAR14,184.54	-32.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,099.37 NZ$1,903.02	$559.94 ZAR9,477.63	-49.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$109.37 NZ$189.31	$91.96 ZAR1,556.46	-15.9%
Average			-27.3%

Wellington vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 64.3% less for childcare

	Wellington	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$768.47 NZ$1,330.22	$228.00 ZAR3,859.24	-70.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,211.68 NZ$21,138.46	$5,090.62 ZAR86,165.43	-58.3%
Average			-64.3%

Wellington vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 39.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Wellington	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.63 NZ$11.48	$2.87 ZAR48.54	-56.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.54 NZ$6.13	$2.12 ZAR35.82	-40.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$25.67 NZ$44.44	$3.15 ZAR53.40	-87.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$34.12 NZ$59.06	$44.05 ZAR745.55	+29.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.54 NZ$19.97	$6.88 ZAR116.51	-40.3%
Average			-39.2%

Wellington vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 21.0% less for clothing

	Wellington	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$69.31 NZ$119.97	$55.23 ZAR934.82	-20.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$46.64 NZ$80.73	$33.91 ZAR573.94	-27.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$113.30 NZ$196.13	$117.06 ZAR1,981.48	+3.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$146.23 NZ$253.12	$88.13 ZAR1,491.79	-39.7%
Average			-21.0%

Wellington vs. Cape Town - Cost of clothing

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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

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