Cost of living comparison

Cape Town, South Africa

compared to

Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok vs. Cape Town Cost of Living Summary

Bangkok is 34.7% more expensive than Cape Town.

Restaurants: pay 38.1% less in Bangkok
Groceries: pay 41.0% more in Bangkok
Transportation: pay 41.7% more in Bangkok
Housing: pay 34.4% less in Bangkok
Childcare: pay 3.1 times more in Bangkok
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.9% more in Bangkok
Clothing: pay 7.0% more in Bangkok

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

Bangkok vs. Cape Town Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 38.1% less for restaurants

	Cape Town	Bangkok
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.52 ZAR155.06	$2.91 THB97.61	-65.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.11 ZAR93.04	$5.83 THB195.22	+14.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.99 ZAR18.07	$0.62 THB20.63	-38.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.78 ZAR14.20	$0.29 THB9.78	-62.6%
Average			-38.1%

Cape Town vs. Bangkok - Cost of restaurants

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pay 41.0% more for groceries

	Cape Town	Bangkok
Bread 1 loaf	$1.07 ZAR19.52	$1.52 THB51.01	+41.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.13 ZAR75.19	$11.74 THB393.39	+184.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.25 ZAR77.41	$7.32 THB245.24	+72.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.53 ZAR46.10	$2.27 THB76.14	-10.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.30 ZAR41.80	$1.31 THB44.05	-42.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.73 ZAR13.31	$1.47 THB49.30	+101.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.70 ZAR12.66	$0.73 THB24.34	+4.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.69 ZAR12.52	$1.04 THB34.69	+50.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZAR12.72	$0.80 THB26.96	+15.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.55 ZAR9.99	$0.71 THB23.88	+29.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.59 ZAR10.81	$0.62 THB20.86	+4.8%
Average			+41.0%

Cape Town vs. Bangkok - Cost of groceries

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pay 41.7% more for transportation

	Cape Town	Bangkok
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.09 ZAR92.64	$4.47 THB149.63	-12.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$42.60 ZAR775.30	$39.32 THB1,317.74	-7.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$19,879.98 ZAR361,808.21	$55,345.18 THB1,854,601.90	+178.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.54 ZAR173.67	$10.34 THB346.52	+8.4%
Average			+41.7%

Cape Town vs. Bangkok - Cost of transportation

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pay 34.4% less for housing

	Cape Town	Bangkok
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$43.29 ZAR787.82	$15.36 THB514.71	-64.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$784.43 ZAR14,276.27	$571.31 THB19,144.28	-27.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$505.72 ZAR9,203.96	$301.88 THB10,116.01	-40.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$71.33 ZAR1,298.10	$67.33 THB2,256.24	-5.6%
Average			-34.4%

Cape Town vs. Bangkok - Cost of housing

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pay 3.1 times more for childcare

	Cape Town	Bangkok
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$207.06 ZAR3,768.44	$632.63 THB21,199.37	+205.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$4,312.73 ZAR78,490.16	$13,191.37 THB442,039.11	+205.9%
Average			+205.7%

Cape Town vs. Bangkok - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Cape Town	Bangkok
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.56 ZAR46.52	$2.33 THB78.09	-8.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.12 ZAR38.67	$2.58 THB86.58	+21.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.95 ZAR53.75	$4.20 THB140.80	+42.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$39.65 ZAR721.71	$54.58 THB1,828.90	+37.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.82 ZAR124.05	$7.28 THB244.03	+6.8%
Average			+19.9%

Cape Town vs. Bangkok - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 7.0% more for clothing

	Cape Town	Bangkok
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$53.53 ZAR974.21	$55.27 THB1,852.02	+3.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$30.86 ZAR561.60	$34.84 THB1,167.44	+12.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.97 ZAR1,910.35	$97.10 THB3,253.66	-7.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$77.06 ZAR1,402.53	$92.12 THB3,086.94	+19.5%
Average			+7.0%

Cape Town vs. Bangkok - 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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