Cape Town vs. Siem Reap: Detailed 2026 Comparison

Cape Town, a major coastal city in South Africa, offers a blend of vibrant urban life, stunning natural beauty, and established economic infrastructure. In contrast, Siem Reap is a rapidly developing city in Cambodia, renowned for the nearby Angkor Wat temple complex and positioned as a key hub for Cambodia's tourism and economic growth. Despite their vastly different settings and economic profiles, this comparison examines their 2026 cost of living and quality of life metrics.

Cape Town boasts a significantly larger population (4.7 million) and a substantially higher GDP per capita ($13,700) compared to Siem Reap (0.15 million population, $6,700 GDP per capita). This reflects Cape Town's status as a major South African city with diverse industries. Siem Reap, however, demonstrates a much faster economic growth rate (4.96% GDP growth) compared to Cape Town's sluggish 0.7% growth rate. Key economic indicators show Cape Town has a higher average net salary ($1,651/month) but also a much higher cost of living index (41.77). In Siem Reap, the average net salary is significantly lower ($220/month), but the overall cost of living is substantially cheaper (29.91). Housing costs in Siem Reap are dramatically lower, with even central city apartments being significantly more affordable than their Cape Town counterparts. However, the property price-to-income ratio in Siem Reap (40.56) is substantially higher than in Cape Town (5.51), suggesting that while absolute property prices are lower, they represent a much larger