Abu Dhabi vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Abu Dhabi	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1942	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4262	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$1271	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$2152	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$453	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$77.2	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3050	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	53	74
😀 Quality of life	85	62
🏙️ Population	1.57M	4.43M

The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is 79% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2187th and 5031st ($1942 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 4th in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Abu Dhabi compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Abu Dhabi ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 443rd and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Johannesburg infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/abu-dhabi/johannesburg.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Abu Dhabi vs Johannesburg infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/abu-dhabi/johannesburg" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Abu Dhabi vs Johannesburg

Prices for goods and services in Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Abu Dhabi	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.9	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.6	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.53	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$11.7	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.34	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1358	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1002	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2476	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1762	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.6	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.01%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5485	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12028	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.68	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.9	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.63	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.97	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.63	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.07	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.41	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.54	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.29	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.83	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.73	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.92	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.4	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.5	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.4	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$598	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12663	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Abu Dhabi

Distance	City	Cost of living
117 km or 73 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
129 km or 80 mi	Dubai	$2514
142 km or 88 mi	Sharjah	$1419
143 km or 89 mi	Al Ain	$1449
152 km or 94 mi	Ajman	$2521
170 km or 105 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
211 km or 131 mi	Fujairah	$1228
237 km or 147 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
300 km or 187 mi	Doha	$1849
318 km or 198 mi	Al Khor	$1770
356 km or 221 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
365 km or 227 mi	Nizwa	$792
395 km or 246 mi	Seeb	$1078
425 km or 264 mi	Riffa	$1201
427 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
428 km or 266 mi	Isa Town	$1230
439 km or 273 mi	Muscat	$1081
454 km or 282 mi	Jahrom	$530
468 km or 291 mi	Dhahran	$908
481 km or 299 mi	Dammam	$1008
486 km or 302 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
501 km or 311 mi	Fasa	$529
514 km or 320 mi	Qatif	$873
548 km or 341 mi	Jubail	$930
568 km or 353 mi	Sirjan	$534
575 km or 357 mi	Jiroft	$568
599 km or 372 mi	Shiraz	$553
610 km or 379 mi	Bushehr	$453
617 km or 384 mi	Borazjan	$477
620 km or 385 mi	Marvdasht	$530
632 km or 392 mi	Kazerun	$503
637 km or 396 mi	Chabahar	$573
649 km or 404 mi	Bam	$557
678 km or 421 mi	Rafsanjan	$604
698 km or 434 mi	Kerman	$761
701 km or 435 mi	Iranshahr	$624
741 km or 460 mi	Yasuj	$463
775 km or 481 mi	Riyadh	$1627
790 km or 491 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
792 km or 492 mi	Behbahan	$483

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$984
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$890
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$984
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$826
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$740
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$892
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$975
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$706
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$875
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$940
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$838
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$830
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$808
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$762
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$833
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$637
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$668
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$637
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$599
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$827
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$607
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$469
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$650
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$577
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$598
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$514
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$861
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$908
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$536
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$915
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$892
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$587
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$915