Al Ain vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Al Ain	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1844	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5338	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$1325	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$3717	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$349	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$57.1	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3607	$1598
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	38	63
😀 Quality of life	75	38
🏙️ Population	767K	1.27M

The cost of living in Al Ain is 100% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 2271st and 5917th ($1844 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 6th 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 2 months in Al Ain compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Al Ain ranked 5th best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 1000th and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Al Ain vs Soweto 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/al-ain/soweto.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Al Ain vs Soweto infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/al-ain/soweto" target="_blank">Al Ain vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Al Ain vs Soweto

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

	Al Ain	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.12	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$51.4	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.64	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.46	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$5.02	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.61	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$668	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1309	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4401	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3318	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.3	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$76.1	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.33%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2055	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1218	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.2	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.44	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.05	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.72	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.08	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.86	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.36	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.67	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.16	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.19	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.1	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.4	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$64.6	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$32.4	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.2	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$640	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3802	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Al Ain

Distance	City	Cost of living
119 km or 74 mi	Fujairah	$1239
126 km or 78 mi	Dubai	$2379
133 km or 82 mi	Sharjah	$1494
135 km or 84 mi	Ajman	$2240
143 km or 89 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
152 km or 94 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
192 km or 119 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
221 km or 138 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
231 km or 143 mi	Nizwa	$780
253 km or 157 mi	Seeb	$967
297 km or 184 mi	Muscat	$1090
337 km or 209 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
442 km or 275 mi	Doha	$1779
458 km or 284 mi	Al Khor	$1709
507 km or 315 mi	Chabahar	$585
525 km or 326 mi	Jahrom	$547
535 km or 333 mi	Jiroft	$518
564 km or 351 mi	Riffa	$1223
565 km or 351 mi	Manama	$1280
566 km or 352 mi	Fasa	$548
567 km or 352 mi	Isa Town	$1243
583 km or 362 mi	Sirjan	$514
596 km or 371 mi	Iranshahr	$605
604 km or 375 mi	Bam	$515
607 km or 377 mi	Dhahran	$1068
619 km or 385 mi	Dammam	$1056
629 km or 391 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
649 km or 404 mi	Qatif	$897
679 km or 422 mi	Shiraz	$589
684 km or 425 mi	Jubail	$901
688 km or 428 mi	Kerman	$464
689 km or 428 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
694 km or 431 mi	Marvdasht	$563
720 km or 447 mi	Bushehr	$551
720 km or 447 mi	Borazjan	$546
726 km or 451 mi	Kazerun	$557
776 km or 482 mi	Zahedan	$829
818 km or 508 mi	Salalah	$809
827 km or 514 mi	Yasuj	$529
866 km or 538 mi	Yazd	$573

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$993
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$837
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$953
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$672
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$785
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$807
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$678
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$906
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$820
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$889
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$784
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$768
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$795
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$748
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$780
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$665
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$691
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$664
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$628
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$562
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$763
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$621
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$442
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$567
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$814
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$540
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$583
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$964
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1068
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$809
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$624
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003