City comparison
Cost of living in Cape Town vs Valencia
One person needs about €1,260 a month in Cape Town and €1,489 in Valencia, rent included — Cape Town is 18% cheaper overall.
Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle
Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.
To live in Valencia the way you live in Cape Town on €3,000, you need
€3,545/ month net
18% more than today (+€545)
- Cape Town today
- Basket €1,260 · left over €1,740 (58%)
- Valencia at the matched salary
- Basket €1,489 · left over €2,056 (58%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 148% over in Valencia (adequate) vs 143% in Cape Town. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇿🇦 Cape Town
Mountain-and-ocean setting at a discount; load-shedding is the hidden cost.
Monthly budget: €1,260
Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports
🇪🇸 Valencia
Flat, cyclable and cheap for a coastal capital-grade city with real infrastructure.
Monthly budget: €1,489
Sources: INE Spain + Eurostat, HICP & provincial rent index (2025) · 198 community reports
Should you move to Cape Town or Valencia?
On salary, Valencia pays more for tech roles (€2,200 versus €1,800 a month), so the money left over after costs is €711 in Valencia at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €750 in Cape Town against €950 in Valencia. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Cape Town at 74 and Valencia at 79 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.