Global CityIntelligence

South Africa / Southern Africa

Durban City Intelligence

Durban is South Africa's main Indian-Ocean port metro, with subtropical climate, manufacturing and logistics anchors, and active coastal-flood and climate-resilience work. Durban is a southern africa city of about ~3.7M metro in South Africa. On the composite city-intelligence score, Durban sits around the indexed median (70/100).

Last updated
2026-05-16
Data year
2025
Population
~3.7M metro
View of Durban, South Africa

Image credit: Image: ---=XEON=--- / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Overall score

Use the Durban profile to compare cost framing, mobility, and coastal-resilience signals alongside Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Overall70/100
Affordability72/100
Air quality66/100
Energy64/100

Overall city intelligence

Good

70/100

Composite directional score across affordability, air quality, clean energy, and resilience.

Data confidence

Directional

Directional indicators pending integration of verified city-level data.

Verified utility layers

See country hub

Emergency, healthcare, and transport verification status appears on the country hub.

Durban data table

The table is part of the initial server-rendered HTML and mirrors the key city score cards.

Durban city intelligence data table
MetricValueContext
Overall score70/100Composite score across major city intelligence modules.
Cost of Living72/100Durban's cost-of-living profile is a directional indicator pending integration of verified city-level data; structured benchmark context applies.
Air Quality66/100Durban's air-quality profile is a directional indicator framed against WHO and regional benchmarks; verified city-level measurements appear in the dedicated air-quality dataset section once integrated.
Energy64/100Durban's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context.
Safety66/100Durban's safety profile is a directional indicator; verified country-level emergency profiles attach via the country hub where available.
Internet Speed67/100Durban's connectivity profile is a directional indicator combining national digital-readiness context with widely cited speed-test references.
Climate Risk62/100Durban's climate-risk profile is a directional indicator combining regional hazard categories with national adaptation capacity.
Resilience62/100Climate adaptation and infrastructure continuity context.

Safety

Deterministic safety estimates from our index — planning signals derived from country priors and city data, not official crime statistics.

Safety

Overall safety45/100
Low crime46/100
Personal safety47/100
Night safety38/100
Road safety49/100

Durban scores below average for safety in our index (45/100); research neighborhoods and take standard precautions.

Quality of Life

A composite quality-of-life estimate and its component indicators.

Quality of Life

Quality of life58/100
Healthcare61/100
Education67/100
Green space43/100
Cleanliness52/100
Infrastructure65/100
Mobility60/100

Durban has a moderate quality-of-life estimate (58/100) across our combined indicators.

Family Friendliness

How the city scores for raising a family, with the indicators that drive it.

Family Friendliness

Family friendliness55/100
Education67/100
Green space43/100
Overall safety45/100

Durban scores moderate for family living (55/100).

Digital Nomad Suitability

Suitability for remote workers, based on connectivity, mobility, and livability.

Digital Nomad Suitability

Digital nomad suitability64/100
Walkability79/100
Cycling60/100
Infrastructure65/100

Durban is moderate for remote workers (64/100), based on connectivity, affordability and walkability and day-to-day amenities.

Retirement Suitability

Suitability for retirement, weighing healthcare, affordability, climate, and environment.

Retirement Suitability

Retirement suitability59/100
Healthcare61/100
Cleanliness52/100
Outdoor lifestyle28/100

Durban is moderate for retirement (59/100), appealing for affordability and a comfortable climate.

Emergency and public safety in Durban

Local public safety guidance for Durban, with the country-level emergency contacts that apply when calling for police, fire, or ambulance.

Unverified

For the universal emergency contacts that apply in Durban, including police, fire, and ambulance, see the South Africa emergency profile, which currently lists no verified national contacts.

Methodology and the wider source registry are documented on the scoring methodology and data sources pages.

Healthcare and hospitals in Durban

Healthcare context for Durban, with national-level information from South Africa where city-specific data is not yet verified. This is informational only and does not provide medical advice.

Unverified

For the national healthcare and public-health context that applies in Durban, see the South Africa healthcare profile, which currently lists no verified national healthcare information.

Related sections: emergency and public safety, scoring methodology, and data sources.

Transport and mobility in Durban

Local mobility context for Durban, with national-level context from South Africa where city-specific data is not yet verified. This is informational only.

Unverified

For national transport authorities and operators that apply in Durban, see the South Africa transport profile, which currently lists no verified national transport information.

Related sections: emergency and public safety, healthcare and hospitals, cities directory, countries directory, scoring methodology, data sources.

Air quality dataset

Source-attributed air-quality dataset for Durban. Verified measurements are surfaced when published from accepted official datasets; transparent fallback is shown otherwise.

Air quality dataset for Durban

Verified data unavailableLast updated 2026-05-16 / data year 2025

Verified air-quality measurements are not yet published for this location

Source-attributed values for Durban will appear here after the platform integrates verified measurements from accepted official publishers. Until then, structured air-quality module context remains available on the dedicated module page.

Durban air-quality dataset coverage
MetricValueData yearStatus
Air qualityVerified air-quality measurements are not yet published for this location.

Data provenance

Source attribution

  • Global City Intelligence — air-quality dataset

    Verified data unavailable
    Publisher
    Global City Intelligence
    Last verified
    2026-05-16

    The air-quality dataset begins empty by design. Verified city-level measurements appear here only after they are sourced from accepted publishers (WHO, EEA, US EPA, OpenAQ, OECD, or official national/city environmental agencies).

Explore Durban modules

City pages link to module and ranking pages so crawlers can move through the topic cluster naturally.

Cost of Living in Durban

Durban's cost-of-living profile is a directional indicator pending integration of verified city-level data; structured benchmark context applies.

Air Quality in Durban

Durban's air-quality profile is a directional indicator framed against WHO and regional benchmarks; verified city-level measurements appear in the dedicated air-quality dataset section once integrated.

Energy in Durban

Durban's energy-readiness profile is a directional indicator that combines national policy framing with city-level adaptation context.

Safety in Durban

Durban's safety profile is a directional indicator; verified country-level emergency profiles attach via the country hub where available.

Internet Speed in Durban

Durban's connectivity profile is a directional indicator combining national digital-readiness context with widely cited speed-test references.

Climate Risk in Durban

Durban's climate-risk profile is a directional indicator combining regional hazard categories with national adaptation capacity.

City rankings

Compare this city against other indexed cities in crawlable ranking tables.

Cost of living in Durban

Cost of living estimates for Durban — monthly budgets, rent, food, and transport in the local currency, plus an affordability score for comparison. Planning estimates derived from country baselines, not live prices.

Climate in Durban

Climate profile for Durban — Semi-Arid climate, annual average 22.5°C, comfort score 78/100. Month-by-month temperatures, rainfall, sunshine, and the best months to visit. Deterministic planning estimates, not a forecast.

Economy and jobs in Durban

Economy and jobs profile for Durban — tourism economy, economy score 58/100, key industries including manufacturing, tourism, mining. Employment, salary, startup, remote-work, and career indicators. Deterministic planning estimates.

Universities and education in Durban

Education profile for Durban — regional education center, education score 61/100, 5 representative universities, plus research, student life, and international-student indicators. Deterministic dataset, not institutional rankings.

Healthcare and retirement in Durban

Healthcare and retirement profile for Durban — mixed healthcare profile, healthcare score 57/100, retirement score 61/100. Medical access, specialist and emergency care, affordability, and retirement suitability. Deterministic planning estimates.

Estimate a monthly budget for Durban

Estimate a monthly budget for Durban using your own housing, food, transport, healthcare, and lifestyle inputs. Planning estimator only — not an official cost-of-living measurement.

Plan a trip budget for Durban

Plan a trip budget for Durban using your own accommodation, food, local transport, activities, travel, healthcare buffer, and emergency buffer inputs. Planning estimator only — not an official travel cost estimate.

Nearby cities from Durban

Where else nearby you could spend a day or a weekend from Durban. Links are derived from geographic proximity, shared region, shared natural-recreation areas, transport corridors, and country borders — not popularity or tourism rankings.

Maputo, Mozambique

Cross-border · about 458 km from Durban. Explore Maputo's city intelligence profile.

Gaborone, Botswana

Cross-border · about 768 km from Durban. Explore Gaborone's city intelligence profile.

Interpretation

Use the Durban profile to compare cost framing, mobility, and coastal-resilience signals alongside Cape Town and Johannesburg. Its standout dimensions are cost of living (72/100) and internet speed (67/100). The area most worth watching is climate risk (62/100), where the model registers practical gaps. Data year 2025; last updated 2026-05-16. Drawn from 4 institutional references.

Country context is available on the South Africa country page. Related rankings include Overall Intelligence, Quality of Life, Remote Work. See where Durban appears in global rankings or read the scoring methodology.

Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation. Verified datasets are being integrated; official sources should be used for critical decisions.

Sources

4 institutional references inform this view, listed below with reliability notes. Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation; verified datasets are being integrated and official sources should be used for critical decisions.