Curious About the Cost of Living in Cape Town?

Cape Town has gained extreme popularity since the end of the pandemic, driving more visitors than ever before – both internationally and locally. This always has an impact on the locals, predominantly in the living space (Cape Town has the most Airbnbs in one city, in the world), which inevitably pushes up the cost of living and drives locals out of the city.

With the near housing crises comes a much higher cost of living, which Cape Town has always been notorious for with Joburg offering far greater value for money when it comes to property. So what DOES it cost to live in Cape Town?

If you’re curious about coming to live in Cape Town as a digital nomad or even moving here for your career, you’ll know it has a reputation for expensive rent. This may be true, but what do the other regular home expenses cost?

As locals, we’ve put together our Cost of Living in Cape Town list for those running their own homes independent from the “bank of Mom and Dad”. Of course, this will vary greatly depending on the needs of the individual, so take this with a pinch of salt, and isn’t aimed at students.

Home Expenses

Internet: R650

We use Cybersmart, it’s part of our complex’s two choices and having been a previous customer (before fibre was installed), was just upgraded. Our rates, however, are a group rate as we were buddied up with our neighbours for a lower rate.

For limitless internet at 500MBPS, the fee is usually R900, but has recently gone up. Our “buddied” rate is R650 / $36.20 / £27.89 / €33.18.

Electricity: R1200

Electricity (when it’s on) is served via two main technical components. Either it’s limitless or capped via a metered box. The limitless electricity is cheaper by the unit, however, you can’t control how much you spend in a month – you just get a bill.

Alternatively, electrical meter boxes are more expensive by the unit, however, you’re able to control more easily how much you use by buying the units up front and monitoring the consumption throughout the month.

For a PATHETIC 389 units (it used to be nearly one unit per Rand), it costs us R1200 / $66.84 / £51.48 / €61.26 per month. Also, if you buy twice in a calendar month, it’s more expensive the second time. Welcome to the muppetry of Eskom!

Rates: R1000

I live in an apartment complex so this will be billed a little bit differently to a free-standing house. The rates for municipal services are around R1000 / $55.70 / £42.90 / €51.05 per month.

Insurances

Health Insurance: R4700

South Africa has some of the best, private medical services in the world. In the last 5 years, both Al-John and I have needed surgeries with 95% of the total costs covered (and we’ve spent a quarter of a million rand between us).

The coverage, however, depends on how much you’re willing to invest and we personally do try to have decent cover. My work also contributes greatly towards the fee, which means we’re both covered.

Our joined medical aid costs R4700 / $261.37 / £201.43 / €239.58 per month.

You also don’t have to use private. There is public healthcare that offers the basics efficiently in the Western Cape. My father in law had an ankle operation and my gran had a stroke, both taken care of in public health. The staff are knowledgeable, resources are just very low.

Car Insurance: R1400

This varies per car and I’ve just realised I don’t have a current statement! For my 2023 SUV though it costs around R1400 / $77.97 / £60.04 / €71.47 per month. For a smaller vehicle, it’s more around the R600 mark.

Mobile Insurance: R184

This isn’t compulsory, but as someone who has spent a lot of time in nightclubs, it’s saved me a few times when my mobile has been pickpocketed off me. Initially, there wasn’t a surcharge but as iPhones became more of a commodity, one has to often pay in an excess fee of around R1000 if the phone is nicked.

This is a nice to have and is more expensive through home insurance, hence using an individual insurance provider. This costs R184 / $10.25 / £7.89 / €9.39 per month.

Transport

Petrol: R2200

Most middle class people either have two cars or one car and one person uses public transport. We have two cars, but this petrol is only for my SUV. For two tanks of petrol I pay around R2200 / $122.34 / £94.30 / €112.18 per month.

Side Note on Public Transport…

Public transport has mixed reviews in South Africa because the taxi network (mini busses) are instrumental to keeping the city running, however, they’re also a law unto themselves, which deters a lot of privileged people from using them.

Same with the trains. The train network is great, however, high crime has detered thousands of people from using them. (I’d personally love to switch to using the train but would rather have less money (paid on petrol) than deal with the fall out of crime.)

Food/Bars: R11 000

Ok so us Capetonians love eating out. We have some of the best produce in the world and are incredibly fussy when it comes to value due to these high standards set by our local purveyors. Groceries have also become so expensive these days that eating out is almost comparable at times.

I currently spend about R6000 a month on food for home (don’t judge me! Biltong is expensive!) and probably about R5000 eating out (consider this takeout, restaurants, snacks, etc). So that’s a wild R11 000 / $611.53 / £472.76 / €560.79 per month.

I will also now be retiring from this behaviour, good Lord!

Technology Bills

These are all the things we could likely live without, but wouldn’t want to.

Mobile: R480

I’ve paid off the handset fee for my iPhone 13 so not my monthly bill is R480. This includes 3 gigs of data, a 1 gig Whatsapp ticket (so if I run out of airtime or data my Whatsapp stays on) and R280 worth of airtime (which I inevitably change into data). This costs R480 / $26.70 / £20.62 / €24.48 per month.

Streaming Services: R360

We can’t live without Netflix, Spotify and YouTube Premium. It’s likely you’re already paying for this in your home country and will have slightly different bouquet of content. Once we went ad free, we never looked back. Best R360 / $20.02 / £15.45 / €18.36 we pay a month!

Banking: R400

I use Discovery bank as their customer service is literally 10 times better than FNB. It is slightly more expensive in terms of bank charges, however, it’s worth it when you spend 80% less time battling on the phone trying to get something done.

The only downfall is that they don’t have eWallets so you can’t SMS wages to your housekeeper. That’s literally the only thing missing.

If you want to get R250 (2500 Discovery Miles) from joining up, type in VMK005 on the referral screen (after you fill in your details) and you’ll get free miles to spend on airtime, electricity, plane tickets, etc.

Discovery costs me about R400 / $22.24 / £17.22 / €20.40 per month.

Overview of Expenses

• Internet: R650
• Electricity: R1200
• Rates: R1000
• Health Insurance: R4700
• Car Insurance: R1400
• Mobile Insurance: R180
• Petrol: R2200
• Food: R11 000
• Mobile: R480
• Streaming Services: R360
• Banking: R400

This totals R23 570 in total.

So obviously you can shape the expenses they way you’d like, either to make it more or less affordable, but I think this was a helpful overview of what people, earning in Rands, are spending to run their homes each month.

What Can You Do to Preserve the Spirit of Cape Town?

• Support small, local businesses so that your travels have a positive impact on direct homes.
• If you’d like to buy property, buy 2 not 5!
• Take time to engage with locals and move out of the hyper Eurocentric circles, where safe.
• If you’ve visited multiple times, venture out a little further of the CBD.
• Don’t ignore the rules “because you can”. Do the right thing aka don’t fly drones on Lion’s Head.
• Pay any rates or taxes that are required.
• Have fun! But tread lightly 🙂