Cost of living comparison

Cape Town, South Africa

compared to

Cairo, Egypt

Cairo vs. Cape Town Cost of Living Summary

Cairo is 45.4% cheaper than Cape Town.

Restaurants: pay 52.7% less in Cairo
Groceries: pay 48.2% less in Cairo
Transportation: pay 38.1% less in Cairo
Housing: pay 76.6% less in Cairo
Childcare: pay 56.3% less in Cairo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 43.7% less in Cairo
Clothing: pay 1.9% less in Cairo

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

Cairo vs. Cape Town Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 52.7% less for restaurants

	Cape Town	Cairo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.52 ZAR152.70	$4.06 EGP200.93	-52.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.11 ZAR91.62	$4.71 EGP233.08	-7.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.99 ZAR17.79	$0.33 EGP16.56	-66.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.78 ZAR13.99	$0.12 EGP6.06	-84.3%
Average			-52.7%

Cape Town vs. Cairo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 48.2% less for groceries

	Cape Town	Cairo
Bread 1 loaf	$1.07 ZAR19.22	$0.65 EGP32.12	-39.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.13 ZAR74.05	$1.59 EGP78.48	-61.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.25 ZAR76.23	$3.40 EGP168.23	-20.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.53 ZAR45.40	$1.45 EGP71.76	-42.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.30 ZAR41.17	$1.96 EGP96.98	-14.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.73 ZAR13.10	$0.68 EGP33.86	-6.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.70 ZAR12.47	$0.23 EGP11.53	-66.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.69 ZAR12.32	$0.16 EGP7.87	-76.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZAR12.52	$0.19 EGP9.53	-72.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.55 ZAR9.84	$0.22 EGP10.70	-60.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.59 ZAR10.65	$0.19 EGP9.39	-68.1%
Average			-48.2%

Cape Town vs. Cairo - Cost of groceries

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pay 38.1% less for transportation

	Cape Town	Cairo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.09 ZAR91.23	$1.01 EGP50.22	-80.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$42.60 ZAR763.49	$8.12 EGP401.87	-80.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$19,879.98 ZAR356,296.88	$36,284.10 EGP1,795,852.71	+82.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.54 ZAR171.02	$2.50 EGP123.57	-73.8%
Average			-38.1%

Cape Town vs. Cairo - Cost of transportation

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pay 76.6% less for housing

	Cape Town	Cairo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$43.29 ZAR775.81	$9.69 EGP479.77	-77.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$784.43 ZAR14,058.81	$208.74 EGP10,331.39	-73.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$505.72 ZAR9,063.76	$129.60 EGP6,414.45	-74.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$71.33 ZAR1,278.33	$13.65 EGP675.68	-80.9%
Average			-76.6%

Cape Town vs. Cairo - Cost of housing

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pay 56.3% less for childcare

	Cape Town	Cairo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$207.06 ZAR3,711.04	$87.26 EGP4,318.94	-57.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$4,312.73 ZAR77,294.54	$1,948.40 EGP96,434.64	-54.8%
Average			-56.3%

Cape Town vs. Cairo - Cost of childcare

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pay 43.7% less for entertainment and sports

	Cape Town	Cairo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.56 ZAR45.81	$1.42 EGP70.33	-44.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.12 ZAR38.08	$1.54 EGP76.11	-27.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.95 ZAR52.94	$1.83 EGP90.42	-38.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$39.65 ZAR710.71	$18.55 EGP918.22	-53.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.82 ZAR122.16	$3.04 EGP150.70	-55.3%
Average			-43.7%

Cape Town vs. Cairo - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 1.9% less for clothing

	Cape Town	Cairo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$53.53 ZAR959.37	$37.28 EGP1,845.17	-30.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$30.86 ZAR553.04	$49.39 EGP2,444.70	+60.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.97 ZAR1,881.25	$97.57 EGP4,829.28	-7.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$77.06 ZAR1,381.17	$53.60 EGP2,652.96	-30.4%
Average			-1.9%

Cape Town vs. Cairo - 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: July 2025

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