Athens vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Athens	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1436	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3478	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$710	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$1232	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$496	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$95.7	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1185	$1614
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	90	74
😀 Quality of life	82	62
🏙️ Population	643K	4.43M

The cost of living in Athens is 33% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 4155th and 5031st ($1436 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 6th 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 0.8 months in Athens compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Athens ranked 1st best city to live in Greece vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 611th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Athens vs Johannesburg infographic

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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	$16.2	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.9	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.1	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.91	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$4.53	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.42	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$660	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$525	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1214	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$950	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$125	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$197	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.3	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.72%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3810	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3763	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.4	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$33.9	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.5	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.11	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.92	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.35	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.06	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.1	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.5	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.74	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.68	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.92	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.88	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.96	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.49	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.98	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.86	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52.5	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.3	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$55	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.5	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$103	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$553	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11493	$5503

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	$1291
4 km or 2.5 mi	Nea Smyrni	$1281
5 km or 3.1 mi	Peristeri	$1192
5.5 km or 3.4 mi	Palaio Faliro	$1386
6.5 km or 4 mi	Nea Filadelfeia	$1259
6.7 km or 4.2 mi	Nea Ionia	$1265
7.3 km or 4.5 mi	Piraeus	$1177
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Nikaia	$1170
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Argyroupoli	$1438
12 km or 7.2 mi	Glyfada	$1636
15 km or 9 mi	Kifissia	$1415
15 km or 9.1 mi	Voula	$1477
15 km or 9.4 mi	Aspropyrgos	$1041
16 km or 10 mi	Eleusis	$1127
20 km or 12 mi	Salamina	$1055
55 km or 34 mi	Chalcis	$1224
69 km or 43 mi	Corinth	$1026
129 km or 80 mi	Tripoli	$1143
151 km or 94 mi	Lamia	$930
154 km or 96 mi	Mykonos	$2056
168 km or 104 mi	Volos	$1101
176 km or 109 mi	Patras	$1111
178 km or 111 mi	Kalamata	$1162
214 km or 133 mi	Agrinio	$976
216 km or 134 mi	Chios	$1254
216 km or 134 mi	Larissa	$1149
219 km or 136 mi	Karditsa	$1112
231 km or 143 mi	Santorini	$1835
243 km or 151 mi	Trikala	$1092
275 km or 171 mi	Mytilene	$1067
275 km or 171 mi	Katerini	$1036
275 km or 171 mi	Chania	$1245
298 km or 185 mi	Rethymno	$1174
302 km or 188 mi	Thessaloniki	$1225
303 km or 188 mi	Izmir	$1046
307 km or 191 mi	Kozani	$1040
311 km or 193 mi	Ioannina	$1045
311 km or 193 mi	Kusadasi	$770
311 km or 193 mi	Veria	$973
315 km or 196 mi	Crete	$1303

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