Athens vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Athens	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1439	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3529	$2788
🏠 One person rent	$713	$547
🏘️ Family rent	$1247	$919
🍽️ Food expenses	$500	$351
🚐 Transport expenses	$93.8	$210
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1330	$420
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	91	73
😀 Quality of life	81	60
🏙️ Population	643K	4.8M

The cost of living in Athens is 20% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 4184th and 4745th ($1439 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 4th in Greece and South Africa, respectively. Check Greece vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.9 months in Athens compared to 0.3 months in Johannesburg. Athens ranked 1st best city to live in Greece vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 602nd and 5850th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Athens vs Johannesburg

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

	Athens	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.5	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$63	$46
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.9	$6.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.86	$2.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.57	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.73	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$668	$473
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$523	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1206	$862
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$967	$679
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$201	$164
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$30.5	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.68%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4032	$1060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3350	$777
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.39	$1.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31.7	$92.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.2	$8.38
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.18	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.95	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.5	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$1.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.04	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$8.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$5.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.9	$9.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.47	$2.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$2.07
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.65	$0.86
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$6.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2	$1.89
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.14	$3.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.99	$5.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.42	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.95	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.79	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.4	$8.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$53.8	$31
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$7.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$100	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$623	$244
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13579	$5103

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Athens

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.6 km or 2.2 mi	Kallithea	$1307
4 km or 2.5 mi	Nea Smyrni	$1298
5 km or 3.1 mi	Peristeri	$1160
5.5 km or 3.4 mi	Palaio Faliro	$1386
6.5 km or 4 mi	Nea Filadelfeia	$1253
6.7 km or 4.2 mi	Nea Ionia	$1264
7.3 km or 4.5 mi	Piraeus	$1228
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Nikaia	$1182
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Argyroupoli	$1439
12 km or 7.2 mi	Glyfada	$1636
15 km or 9 mi	Kifissia	$1403
15 km or 9.1 mi	Voula	$1472
15 km or 9.4 mi	Aspropyrgos	$1024
16 km or 10 mi	Eleusis	$1123
20 km or 12 mi	Salamina	$1037
55 km or 34 mi	Chalcis	$1179
69 km or 43 mi	Corinth	$1008
129 km or 80 mi	Tripoli	$1143
151 km or 94 mi	Lamia	$932
154 km or 96 mi	Mykonos	$2043
168 km or 104 mi	Volos	$1126
176 km or 109 mi	Patras	$1109
178 km or 111 mi	Kalamata	$1146
214 km or 133 mi	Agrinio	$1003
216 km or 134 mi	Chios	$1253
216 km or 134 mi	Larissa	$1171
219 km or 136 mi	Karditsa	$1126
231 km or 143 mi	Santorini	$1863
243 km or 151 mi	Trikala	$1100
275 km or 171 mi	Mytilene	$1060
275 km or 171 mi	Katerini	$1039
275 km or 171 mi	Chania	$1302
298 km or 185 mi	Rethymno	$1166
302 km or 188 mi	Thessaloniki	$1285
303 km or 188 mi	Izmir	$1038
307 km or 191 mi	Kozani	$1048
311 km or 193 mi	Ioannina	$1098
311 km or 193 mi	Kusadasi	$883
311 km or 193 mi	Veria	$1030
315 km or 196 mi	Crete	$1324

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$1104
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$912
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1031
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$851
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$784
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$997
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1015
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$742
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$994
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$902
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$875
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$872
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$811
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$903
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$691
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$723
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$691
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$607
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$882
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$663
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$494
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$660
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$611
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$549
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$904
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$912
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$590
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1014
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$938
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$632
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$965