Cape Town vs Johannesburg vs Durban quality of life

Composite of Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. (Paul Saad / Elton Pelser / Jelena / Flickr)

Cape Town vs Johannesburg vs Durban: Here’s who has the best quality of life

We’ve got a royal rumble of South Africa’s biggest cities, as we asses the quality of life in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. The gloves are off…

Cape Town vs Johannesburg vs Durban quality of life

Composite of Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. (Paul Saad / Elton Pelser / Jelena / Flickr)

These days, the discourse about Cape Town vs Johannesburg can’t really go on without Durban throwing its hat into the ring. The coastal city has wonderful stretches of golden beaches that are a massive hit with tourists, but now, KZN’s biggest conurbation is staking a claim for local pride too.

We love getting our hands on data that pits the Mother City against its land-locked rival. But throwing Durban into the mix gives us that third dimension we’ve been craving. Recently, we looked at the differences in wages and job opportunities between CPT and JHB. But here, we want to judge success on a different criteria.

Thanks to Numbeo – who have recently updated their stats for February 2019 – we can use their Quality of Life Index to determine which of the competitive trio is the most satisfactory location to live in.

Cape Town vs Johannesburg vs Durban: Who has the best quality of life?

IndexJohannesburgCape TownDurban
Purchasing power87.575.688.1
Safety19.829.920.2
Healthcare59.871.551.4
Climate 91.398.295.6
Cost of Living47.344.441.0
Property price /
Income ratio score*
3.58.13.22
Traffic commute time*42.044.227.3
Pollution*62.236.4 51.3
Quality of life score:128.5147.6142.6

(Scores marked with a * mean that the value of 1.0 is the best possible score in its field. Those unmarked mean that 100.0 is the best possible score in its field. Scores in bold indicate the best of the three.)

Cape Town comes out on top

With apologies to Joburgers and Durbanites, Capetonians take the bragging rights according to Numbeo. It was a tight battle with the East Coast’s finest, as Durban came in second. Johannesburg – reeling from its high pollution and low safety scores – ended up third in this duel.

Cape Town was deemed as the safest city of the three by Numbeo, as it scored significantly higher when it came to clean air and the quality of local healthcare. Durban, meanwhile, will be pleased to claim it has the best purchasing power of the lot.

In fact, DBN is perhaps a young professional’s dream. Not only does it have the lowest traffic commute time, but the property price to income ratio trumps its competitors. If you’re going to get caught up in the rat race, why no do it somewhere affordable and traffic-light?

For Johannesburg, the wooden spoon does come with one crumb of comfort. Gauteng’s biggest city offers the cheapest cost of living. In a city of high earners, you can make your money go further and last longer. So as far as a consolation prize goes, this is the one you want.

Crime in the Cape, Johannesburg and Durban

Cape Town has been deemed the safest place to live due to a citizen survey carried out by the website. Johannesburg and Durban recorded near-identical scores in the questionnaire, with the former scoring highest on the “level of crime” and “worries about being mugged” options.

Durban recorded the highest scores for fears about theft, attacks and an overall increase in crime. Elsewhere, drug-dealing and crimes related to narcotics registered as the biggest worry amongst those in the Cape.