Asmara vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Asmara	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$533	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1268	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$227	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$385	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$208	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$46.8	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$112	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	8	74
😀 Quality of life	14	62
🏙️ Population	963K	4.43M

The cost of living in Asmara is 51% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 8435th and 5031st ($533 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Eritrea and South Africa, respectively. Check Eritrea vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Asmara compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Asmara ranked 1st best city to live in Eritrea vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 9205th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Asmara vs Johannesburg infographic

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

Prices in Asmara vs Johannesburg

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

	Asmara	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.14	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$20.2	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.7	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.82	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$1.88	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.5	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$220	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$148	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$400	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$274	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.7	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$58.7	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.74%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1543	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$940	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.33	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.7	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.01	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.03	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.63	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.59	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.14	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.88	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.26	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.33	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.1	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.77	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.48	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.81	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.27	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.77	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.5	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.19	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.1	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.19	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$14.7	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.2	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$26.7	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$62.2	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$84.4	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3125	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Asmara

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Mendefera	$498
63 km or 39 mi	Massawa	$499
71 km or 44 mi	Keren	$500
214 km or 133 mi	Mekelle	$826
270 km or 168 mi	Kassala	$971
342 km or 212 mi	Gondar	$1016
407 km or 253 mi	El-Gadarif	$925
437 km or 272 mi	Al Hudaydah	$522
448 km or 279 mi	Bahir Dar	$864
473 km or 294 mi	Dessie	$1039
490 km or 304 mi	Zabid	$499
498 km or 310 mi	Abha	$911
509 km or 316 mi	Port Sudan	$964
513 km or 319 mi	Bareq	$903
548 km or 340 mi	Sa'dah	$498
567 km or 352 mi	Sanaa	$560
580 km or 361 mi	Sayyan	$498
583 km or 362 mi	Taiz	$522
585 km or 363 mi	Ibb	$512
589 km or 366 mi	Atbara	$1116
596 km or 370 mi	Dhamar	$500
600 km or 373 mi	Dikhil	$559
602 km or 374 mi	Obock	$560
606 km or 376 mi	Najran	$860
618 km or 384 mi	Djibouti City	$586
620 km or 385 mi	Ali Sabieh	$557
633 km or 393 mi	Ad-Damazin	$829
649 km or 403 mi	Bisha	$918
674 km or 419 mi	Khartoum North	$879
684 km or 425 mi	Mecca	$1162
685 km or 426 mi	Khartoum	$896
691 km or 429 mi	Jeddah	$1155
693 km or 430 mi	Omdurman	$910
701 km or 436 mi	Addis Ababa	$1289
715 km or 444 mi	Dire Dawa	$1175
715 km or 444 mi	Kosti	$857
717 km or 446 mi	Aden	$517
755 km or 469 mi	Harar	$1175
758 km or 471 mi	Borama	$502
788 km or 489 mi	Jijiga	$1169

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