City comparison
Cost of living in Cape Town vs Warsaw
One person needs about €1,260 a month in Cape Town and €1,422 in Warsaw, rent included — Cape Town is 13% 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 Warsaw the way you live in Cape Town on €3,000, you need
€3,386/ month net
13% more than today (+€386)
- Cape Town today
- Basket €1,260 · left over €1,740 (58%)
- Warsaw at the matched salary
- Basket €1,422 · left over €1,964 (58%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 218% over in Warsaw (strong) 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
🇵🇱 Warsaw
The best pay-to-cost ratio in the EU for engineers right now.
Monthly budget: €1,422
Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports
Should you move to Cape Town or Warsaw?
On salary, Warsaw pays more for tech roles (€3,100 versus €1,800 a month), so the money left over after costs is €1,678 in Warsaw at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €750 in Cape Town against €900 in Warsaw. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Cape Town at 74 and Warsaw at 80 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.