Cost of living comparison

Bangkok, Thailand

compared to

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Cape Town is 8.5% more expensive than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 2.0 times more in Cape Town
Groceries: pay 16.3% less in Cape Town
Transportation: pay 12.4% less in Cape Town
Housing: pay 73.1% more in Cape Town
Childcare: pay 67.3% less in Cape Town
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.3% less in Cape Town
Clothing: pay 5.7% less in Cape Town

The cost of restaurants and housing in Cape Town are more expensive than in Bangkok. Expenses including childcare, groceries, entertainment and sports, transportation, and clothing are lower in Cape Town. Notably, restaurants is significantly more expensive in Cape Town.

Cape Town vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.0 times more for restaurants

	Bangkok	Cape Town
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.91 THB97.61	$8.52 ZAR155.06	+192.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.83 THB195.22	$5.11 ZAR93.04	-12.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.62 THB20.63	$0.99 ZAR18.07	+61.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.29 THB9.78	$0.78 ZAR14.20	+167.5%
Average			+102.2%

Bangkok vs. Cape Town - Cost of restaurants

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pay 16.3% less for groceries

	Bangkok	Cape Town
Bread 1 loaf	$1.52 THB51.01	$1.07 ZAR19.52	-29.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$11.74 THB393.39	$4.13 ZAR75.19	-64.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.32 THB245.24	$4.25 ZAR77.41	-41.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.27 THB76.14	$2.53 ZAR46.10	+11.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.31 THB44.05	$2.30 ZAR41.80	+74.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.47 THB49.30	$0.73 ZAR13.31	-50.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 THB24.34	$0.70 ZAR12.66	-4.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.04 THB34.69	$0.69 ZAR12.52	-33.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.80 THB26.96	$0.70 ZAR12.72	-13.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 THB23.88	$0.55 ZAR9.99	-22.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.62 THB20.86	$0.59 ZAR10.81	-4.6%
Average			-16.3%

Bangkok vs. Cape Town - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.4% less for transportation

	Bangkok	Cape Town
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.47 THB149.63	$5.09 ZAR92.64	+14.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$39.32 THB1,317.74	$42.60 ZAR775.30	+8.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$55,345.18 THB1,854,601.90	$19,879.98 ZAR361,808.21	-64.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.34 THB346.52	$9.54 ZAR173.67	-7.7%
Average			-12.4%

Bangkok vs. Cape Town - Cost of transportation

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pay 73.1% more for housing

	Bangkok	Cape Town
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$15.36 THB514.71	$43.29 ZAR787.82	+181.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$571.31 THB19,144.28	$784.43 ZAR14,276.27	+37.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$301.88 THB10,116.01	$505.72 ZAR9,203.96	+67.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$67.33 THB2,256.24	$71.33 ZAR1,298.10	+5.9%
Average			+73.1%

Bangkok vs. Cape Town - Cost of housing

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pay 67.3% less for childcare

	Bangkok	Cape Town
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$632.63 THB21,199.37	$207.06 ZAR3,768.44	-67.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,191.37 THB442,039.11	$4,312.73 ZAR78,490.16	-67.3%
Average			-67.3%

Bangkok vs. Cape Town - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.3% less for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Cape Town
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.33 THB78.09	$2.56 ZAR46.52	+9.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.58 THB86.58	$2.12 ZAR38.67	-17.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.20 THB140.80	$2.95 ZAR53.75	-29.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.58 THB1,828.90	$39.65 ZAR721.71	-27.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.28 THB244.03	$6.82 ZAR124.05	-6.4%
Average			-14.3%

Bangkok vs. Cape Town - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 5.7% less for clothing

	Bangkok	Cape Town
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$55.27 THB1,852.02	$53.53 ZAR974.21	-3.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.84 THB1,167.44	$30.86 ZAR561.60	-11.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$97.10 THB3,253.66	$104.97 ZAR1,910.35	+8.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$92.12 THB3,086.94	$77.06 ZAR1,402.53	-16.3%
Average			-5.7%

Bangkok 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: March 2025

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