Four South African cities and their 'Quality of Life'

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Which city has the best Quality of Life?

A new study by Numbeo has ranked the cities with the best quality of life in 2025, according to a Quality of Life Index.

This index estimated the overall quality of life in a city or country. It took into account various factors that impact one’s quality of life, including purchasing power, pollution levels, housing affordability, cost of living, safety, healthcare quality, commute times, and climate conditions.

The index used an empirical formula that also took into account the following factors:

Purchasing Power Index (higher is better)
Pollution Index (lower is better)
House Price to Income Ratio (lower is better)
Cost of Living Index (lower is better)
Safety Index (higher is better)
Health Care Index (higher is better)
Traffic Commute Time Index (lower is better)
Climate Index (higher is better)

The formula then combined the data collected for each factor to generate a numerical value that represents the quality of life in a particular location.

Four cities compared

In South Africa, four major cities featured in this study: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria.

Once compared, Cape Town bagged the top spot with a Quality of Life Index total score of 160.2. The Mother City has the highest safety score, best health care, lowest pollution and best climate in South Africa.

Rank	City	Purchasing Power Index	Safety Index	Health Care Index	Cost of Living Index	House Price to Income Ratio	Traffic Commute Time Index	Pollution Index	Climate Index	Quality of Life Index total score
1	Cape Town	105.0	26.3	68.8	31.3	5.2	42.4	38.6	98.2	160.2
2	Pretoria	138.2	18.2	66.5	31.3	2.2	44.7	56.0	95.8	157.9
3	Durban	99.8	19.4	58.6	28.6	5.1	25.5	52.9	95.6	149.0
4	Johannesburg	113.8	19.2	60.2	33.2	3.1	40.8	61.5	91.4	141.8