Last update: Oct 2026

Cost of Living Comparison Between Cape Town and Campos do Jordão

For one person, living is cheaper in Campos do Jordão: $1,349 a month against $1,556 in Cape Town, rent and utilities included – about $2,500 less a year. The total is higher in Cape Town despite lower rent and utilities.

75

Cost of Living Index in Cape Town
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Cape Town Living Index
65

Cost of Living Index in Campos do Jordão
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Campos do Jordão Living Index

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Cape Town

🇿🇦 South Africa

$1,556

/mo nomad

Campos do Jordão

🇧🇷 Brazil

$1,349

/mo nomad

Monthly Cost of Living

How much you'll spend in Cape Town and in Campos do Jordão

Real prices from locals and on-the-ground checks – rent, groceries, transit and the daily extras. Here's what a month in Cape Town and in Campos do Jordão actually costs, broken down by who's living it.

Monthly costs for one person with rent: $1,556 in Cape Town versus $1,349 in Campos do Jordão.

Cape Town $1,556
Campos do Jordão $1,349

Estimated couple costs with rent: $2,432 in Cape Town versus $2,113 in Campos do Jordão.

Cape Town $2,432
Campos do Jordão $2,113

Monthly costs for a family of three with rent: $3,307 in Cape Town versus $2,877 in Campos do Jordão.

Cape Town $3,307
Campos do Jordão $2,877

Living in Cape Town is roughly 15% more expensive than in Campos do Jordão, and outside of rent the biggest gap is in eating out.

Meal at Budget Restaurant

$12.09 R 202

$7.30 R$39.04

65.62%

Three-Course Dinner for Two, Mid-Range

$44.34 R 739

$29.53 R$158

50.15%

Fast Food Meal (McDonalds, etc)

$6.15 R 102

$6.37 R$34.04

-3.45%

Cappuccino

$2.36 R 39.30

$2.54 R$13.59

-7.09%

Coke/Pepsi/Fanta/Sprite (0.33 liter bottle)

$1.26 R 21.06

$0.90 R$4.83

40.00%

Water (0.33 liter bottle)

$1.00 R 16.59

$0.77 R$4.12

29.87%

Local Beer (0.5 liter draught)

$3.08 R 51.3

$1.02 R$5.43

201.96%

Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle)

$3.70 R 61.6

$2.71 R$14.52

36.53%

Milk (1 liter)

$1.34 R 22.41

$1.04 R$5.59

28.85%

White Bread (500g)

$1.19 R 19.89

$1.76 R$9.43

-32.39%

Rice (white) (1kg)

$2.10 R 35.01

$1.27 R$6.80

65.35%

Eggs

$3.05 R 50.8

$2.26 R$12.06

34.96%

Local Cheese (1kg)

$8.73 R 146

$11.07 R$59.2

-21.14%

Chicken Fillets (1kg)

$6.97 R 116

$4.62 R$24.68

50.87%

Beef Round Steak (1kg)

$9.39 R 157

$8.98 R$48.01

4.57%

Apples (1kg)

$1.89 R 31.44

$2.05 R$10.96

-7.80%

Banana (1kg)

$1.88 R 31.32

$1.16 R$6.23

62.07%

Oranges (1kg)

$1.69 R 28.08

$1.91 R$10.23

-11.52%

Tomato (1kg)

$2.04 R 34.07

$1.75 R$9.35

16.57%

Potato (1kg)

$1.57 R 26.12

$1.26 R$6.75

24.60%

Onion (1kg)

$1.48 R 24.65

$1.22 R$6.50

21.31%

Lettuce (1 head)

$1.28 R 21.36

$1.08 R$5.76

18.52%

Water (1.5 liter bottle)

$1.19 R 19.81

$0.90 R$4.80

32.22%

Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro, Camel)

$3.63 R 60.5

$2.25 R$12.03

61.33%

Wine (Bottle)

$6.17 R 103

$7.50 R$40.12

-17.73%

Local Beer (0.5 liter bottle)

$1.39 R 23.14

$1.28 R$6.86

8.59%

Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle)

$2.18 R 36.33

$1.85 R$9.90

17.84%

One-way Ticket (Public Transport)

$1.37 R 22.83

Public Transport Monthly Pass (Regular Price)

$61.3 R 1,021

$37.18 R$199

64.82%

Taxi Start (Normal Tariff)

$0.57 R 9.58

$1.47 R$7.86

-61.22%

Taxi (Normal Tariff) (1km)

$1.48 R 24.62

$1.53 R$8.20

-3.27%

Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff)

$4.90 R 81.6

$5.44 R$29.09

-9.93%

Gasoline (1 liter)

$1.58 R 26.29

$1.21 R$6.47

30.58%

Midsize Hatchback 1.4l (Volkswagen Golf, Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, etc)

$34.7K R 578.4K

$22.3K R$119.1K

55.82%

Compact Sedan 1.6l (Toyota Corolla, Mazda3, Kia K4, Hyundai Elantra, etc)

$34.1K R 568.2K

$30.9K R$165.3K

10.29%

Utilities for 2 People in 2-bedroom Apartment (Heating, Electricity, Gas, Water, Garbage) (85m2)

$117 R 1,948

$74.3 R$397

57.32%

SIM Card Monthly Plan (Calls and 10GB+ Data)

$28.35 R 472

$9.41 R$50.3

201.28%

Internet (50+ Mbps, Unlimited Data)

$40.58 R 676

$16.52 R$88.3

145.64%

Gym Membership (Monthly)

$48.54 R 809

$16.78 R$89.7

189.27%

Tennis Court (1 Hour on Weekend)

$10.80 R 180

$20.40 R$109

-47.06%

Cinema Ticket

$9.11 R 152

$8.06 R$43.12

13.03%

Preschool or Kindergarten, Full Day, Private, 1 Child (Monthly)

$302 R 5,032

$111 R$595

171.55%

International Primary School, 1 Child (Yearly)

$6,720 R 112.0K

$9,484 R$50.7K

-29.15%

Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar)

$55.2 R 920

$37.35 R$200

47.87%

Summer Dress (H&M, Zara, etc)

$32.70 R 545

$34.69 R$186

-5.74%

Sport Shoes (Adidas, Nike)

$118 R 1,964

$89.1 R$476

32.29%

Men's Leather Business Shoes

$104 R 1,731

$55.2 R$295

88.09%

1-bedroom Apartment, City Center (Monthly)

$1,041 R 17.3K

$569 R$3,041

82.97%

1-bedroom Apartment, Outside City Center (Monthly)

$691 R 11.5K

$741 R$3,964

-6.80%

3-bedroom Apartment, City Center (Monthly)

$1,981 R 33.0K

$1,289 R$6,892

53.70%

3-bedroom Apartment, Outside City Center (Monthly)

$1,388 R 23.1K

$1,498 R$8,008

-7.35%

Buy Apartment in City Center (m2)

$2,420 R 40.3K

$1,138 R$6,085

112.64%

Buy Apartment Outside City Center (m2)

$1,552 R 25.9K

$1,283 R$6,860

20.95%

Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax)

$1,576 R 26.3K

$277 R$1,482

468.63%

20-Year Fixed Mortgage Interest Rate (Annual %)

10.97

12.79

-14.23%

CityCost data is based on AI and user input – minor inaccuracies may occur.

Last update for Cape Town: October 24, 2026

Last update for Campos do Jordão: October 25, 2026

Monthly budget structure

Share of the monthly basket for one person, rent included.

Accommodation & Living

Cape Town

$691 44.4%

Campos do Jordão

$741 55% 7.3% $50

Groceries & Markets

Cape Town

$224 14.4%

Campos do Jordão

$205 15.2% 8.1% $18

Monthly Utilities & Internet

Cape Town

$186 11.9%

Campos do Jordão

$100 7.4% 46.1% $86

Eating Out

Cape Town

$175 11.3%

Campos do Jordão

$125 9.3% 28.6% $50

Clothing & Footwear

Cape Town

$139 9%

Campos do Jordão

$97 7.2% 30.1% $42

Getting Around

Cape Town

$75 4.8%

Campos do Jordão

$46 * 3.4% 38% $28

Sport & Entertainment

Cape Town

$67 4.3%

Campos do Jordão

$33 2.4% 50.7% $34

Categories marked with * are only partly priced – their share counts the items that do have prices.

Cost Breakdown

A one-bedroom apartment in the center runs $1,041 in Cape Town and $569 in Campos do Jordão. Housing cost is often the main lever when comparing two cities.

Cape Town pays about 5.7 times more on average. How far that income stretches comes down to housing choices and lifestyle.

Dining out: $44 in Cape Town vs $30 in Campos do Jordão for a mid-range dinner for two. Groceries echo the gap at $224 vs $205 per month, with Campos do Jordão cheaper across the board.

Good to know

🇿🇦 Cape Town

🇧🇷 Campos do Jordão

🕒 Local time

22:19 10:19 PM

17:19 5:19 PM

5 h behind Cape Town

🌤 Weather

👥 Population

3,740,026 Capital

46,974

💱 Currency

South African Rand ZAR R

Brazilian Real BRL R$

📈 Exchange rate

100 ZAR = 6 USD

100 ZAR = 5.39 EUR

1 BRL = 0.187 USD

1 BRL = 0.168 EUR

Exchange rates and currency converter

BRL, USD, EUR to ZAR – South African Rand Converter

🇺🇸 United States Dollar ($)

🇿🇦 South African Rand (R)

South African Rand exchange rates as of October 28, 2026: 1 USD = 16.66 ZAR (100 ZAR = 6 USD). 1 EUR = 18.55 ZAR (100 ZAR = 5.39 EUR).

Brazilian Real exchange rates as of October 28, 2026: 1 USD = 5.35 BRL (1 BRL = 0.187 USD). 1 EUR = 5.95 BRL (1 BRL = 0.168 EUR).

USD to ZAR in detail →

On the map

Lowest

Highest

Between locations

Cape Town Campos do Jordão 6,290 km ≈ 8 h nonstop flight

From you

Cape Town
Campos do Jordão

Distances are measured in a straight line. Your location is detected approximately.

City Median Internet Speeds Comparison (Updated April 2026)

The chart highlights the Precision Threshold for mobile and fixed broadband internet speeds, updated quarterly.

Digital Nomad Cost of Living Index

Cape Town vs Campos do Jordão: Cost of Living - Frequently Asked Questions

Campos do Jordão wins on cost – living expenses run 13% lower than in Cape Town. Housing and daily spending are where you’ll feel the difference most, making Campos do Jordão the obvious pick if budget is a priority.

Average pay in Cape Town is about 5.7 times higher, which matters when comparing affordability. Whether that higher income actually nets you more depends on your spending habits and housing choices.

Rent for a central apartment: $1,041 in Cape Town versus $569 in Campos do Jordão. Housing is usually the single largest factor when comparing overall living costs between the two.

Childcare runs $302 in Cape Town versus $111 in Campos do Jordão. Over years of preschool, even a modest monthly gap compounds into a major financial factor for families.

Supermarket bills run roughly 9% higher in Cape Town. For households that cook at home regularly, that difference adds up over a month.

Both cities are expensive relative to $1,000. Campos do Jordão is the more realistic option, but even there you’ll need to be disciplined with housing, food, and fun money.

Both cities offer a good standard of living with different trade-offs. Neither is objectively better – the right pick depends on what matters most: affordability, career, cultural scene, or climate.

Expats usually find Campos do Jordão gentler on the wallet – expenses run 13% less than in Cape Town. Beyond cost, consider language, visa policies, and how big the international community is in each city.