Ashgabat vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Ashgabat	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1833	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4223	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$893	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$1483	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$782	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$49.8	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$747	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	7	74
😀 Quality of life	49	62
🏙️ Population	1.03M	4.43M

The cost of living in Ashgabat is 69% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2595th and 5031st ($1833 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Turkmenistan and South Africa, respectively. Check Turkmenistan vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Ashgabat compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Ashgabat ranked 1st best city to live in Turkmenistan vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 6667th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Ashgabat vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Ashgabat vs Johannesburg

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

	Ashgabat	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$31.3	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.3	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.48	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$7.08	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.16	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1020	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$674	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1780	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1190	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.3	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.2	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$102	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.49%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4806	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2978	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.14	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.51	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.77	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.43	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$4.77	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.69	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.3	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.17	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.26	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.7	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.4	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.44	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.58	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.1	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.1	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.69	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$25.7	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.19	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.85	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.81	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.2	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.3	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$33.8	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.4	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$65.8	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.9	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$23	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25686	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Ashgabat

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.2 mi	Anau	$1774
95 km or 59 mi	Quchan	$500
99 km or 61 mi	Baherden	$1796
107 km or 66 mi	Bojnord	$489
197 km or 123 mi	Nishapur	$496
203 km or 126 mi	Sabzevar	$512
212 km or 132 mi	Mashhad	$503
294 km or 183 mi	Gonbad-e Kavus	$467
302 km or 187 mi	Kashmar	$506
306 km or 190 mi	Mary	$1654
307 km or 191 mi	Torbat-e Heydarieh	$502
344 km or 213 mi	Shahrud	$564
361 km or 224 mi	Torbat-e Jam	$493
367 km or 228 mi	Gorgan	$658
451 km or 280 mi	Dasoguz	$1770
469 km or 291 mi	Turkmenabat	$1716
496 km or 308 mi	Sari	$643
513 km or 318 mi	Nukus	$477
516 km or 321 mi	Qaem Shahr	$501
517 km or 321 mi	Semnan	$542
524 km or 325 mi	Herat	$509
528 km or 328 mi	Babol	$372
558 km or 347 mi	Amol	$530
561 km or 349 mi	Bukhara	$433
570 km or 354 mi	Birjand	$588
634 km or 394 mi	Pardis	$598
654 km or 406 mi	Qarshi	$512
657 km or 408 mi	Pakdasht	$604
660 km or 410 mi	Golestan	$628
667 km or 414 mi	Sheberghan	$432
668 km or 415 mi	Qarchak	$607
668 km or 415 mi	Tehran	$684
670 km or 417 mi	Varamin	$588
671 km or 417 mi	Ray	$622
693 km or 431 mi	Qods	$638
694 km or 431 mi	Eslamshahr	$623
695 km or 432 mi	Nasimshahr	$624
700 km or 435 mi	Shahriar	$635
701 km or 435 mi	Karaj	$704
703 km or 437 mi	Fardis	$640

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