Finance

South Africa’s most expensive cities to live in

Staff Writer

 ·30 Oct 2016

Two global cost of living indices have been updated for October 2016, showing that South Africa has a new second most expensive city – replacing Cape Town.

According to both the Numbeo Cost of Living Index and the Expatistan Cost of Living Index, updated for October 2016, Pretoria has overtaken Cape Town as the second most expensive major city in the country.

Numbeo’s data is determined by user input on the site, which opens itself up to some doubt – however, it reflects a similar positioning to other rankings where objective data is measured.

Notably, both Numbeo and Expatistan have marked Pretoria’s rise in living costs – surpassing tourism mecca, Cape Town . In 2015, Cape Town was ranked as the second most expensive major city in the country – in 2016, it drops to third.

This is despite Cape Town having the highest property and rental costs in the country, which account for around a third of all monthly expenditure in the city, compared to around a quarter in other cities in the country, Numbeo’s data shows.

When including Port Elizabeth – which is not included in the Expatistan index, but features in the Numbeo Index – its relative low average income level makes its cost of living one of the highest in the country.

PE’s average disposable income is listed at R10,876 – far below the country average – making its retail prices (for food and other products) eat away at a larger chunk of available income than any other category.

Johannesburg remains the country’s most expensive city, while Durban maintains its place as the most affordable among the five major metros.

Overall, South Africa is ranked as the 91st most expensive country in the world, out of 128 countries ranked. All scores are relative to New York City (100.00), where 50.0 would indicate half the cost and 150.0 indicates 50% more expensive.

Below are five categories (transport, rent, salaries, utilities and entertainment) which contain the average prices across all five major cities covered by Numbeo and Expatistan.

Average disposable salary

• Joburg – R19 651
• Pretoria – R19 259
• Cape Town – R17 350
• South Africa – R16 508
• Durban – R15 933
• Port Elizabeth – R10 876

Rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in the city centre

• Cape Town – R8 529
• Joburg – R6 523
• South Africa – R5 455
• Pretoria – R4 290
• Durban – R4 300
• Port Elizabeth – R3 889

Basic utilities

• Durban – R1 116
• Joburg – R1 045
• South Africa – R1 019
• Pretoria – R987
• Cape Town – R940
• Port Elizabeth – R837

Meal for 2

• Joburg – R450
• Cape Town – R450
• South Africa – R400
• Pretoria – R400
• Durban – R400
• Port Elizabeth – R400

Monthly transport

• Joburg – R510
• Cape Town – R330
• Pretoria – R618
• South Africa – R400
• Durban – R400
• Port Elizabeth – R400

More on cities

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How much the average tourist spends in South Africa’s biggest cities

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