Atlantis, Western Cape vs Howick: Which City Wins for Expats in 2026?

Atlantis is a cheap place to live, with a 1-bedroom in the city center at $271/mo and a cost of living index of 44/100, so your money goes far here. The catch is that it is a small, quiet town of 67 thousand with a very few expat community and English common only in tourist areas, which makes it a poor fit for digital nomads scoring 65/100 or retirees at 64/100. The overall expat score of 78/100 and FIRE score of 80/100 tell the real story: come for the low costs and the Mediterranean climate, not for a built-in social scene.

Howick is a cheap place to live, with a 3-bedroom city center apartment at $293/mo and utilities at $147/mo, but the average net salary of $1,170/mo leaves little room for the $2,050/mo income required by the South Africa Retired Person Visa. The retiree score of 65/100 beats the digital nomad score of 56/100, and the crime index of 40 and air quality index of 35 are genuinely decent for a town of 22 thousand at 1072 m. Limited English proficiency and fair healthcare are real drawbacks, and the $2,950/mo needed for the South Africa Digital Nomad Visa prices out most remote workers. Come for retirement on a local budget, not for a nomad career.