Beirut vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Beirut	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1255	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3214	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$605	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$1314	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$342	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$186	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$542	$1598
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	75	63
😀 Quality of life	63	38
🏙️ Population	2.42M	1.27M

The cost of living in Beirut is 36% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 4326th and 5917th ($1255 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Lebanon and South Africa, respectively. Check Lebanon vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Beirut compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Beirut ranked 1st best city to live in Lebanon vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 4772nd and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Beirut vs Soweto infographic

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

Prices in Beirut vs Soweto

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

	Beirut	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$50.3	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.83	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.02	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$2.9	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.58	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$732	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$355	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1783	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$887	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$136	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$209	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.6	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.48%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3136	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1549	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.6	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$79.5	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.1	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.92	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.62	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.82	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.11	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.9	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.28	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.41	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.01	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.16	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.02	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.87	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.08	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.37	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.8	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.8	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.01	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.3	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.08	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.9	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$117	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$294	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4459	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Beirut

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.2 mi	Jounieh	$1020
37 km or 23 mi	Zahle	$912
38 km or 23 mi	Sidon	$798
68 km or 42 mi	Tripoli	$776
75 km or 46 mi	Tyre	$573
76 km or 47 mi	Kiryat Shmona	$1709
83 km or 52 mi	Damascus	$638
99 km or 62 mi	Ma'alot-Tarshiha	$1647
102 km or 64 mi	Safed	$1681
106 km or 66 mi	Nahariya	$1616
112 km or 69 mi	Karmiel	$1531
114 km or 71 mi	Acre	$1502
115 km or 72 mi	Sakhnin	$1612
116 km or 72 mi	Arraba	$1633
119 km or 74 mi	Tamra	$1655
122 km or 76 mi	Tiberias	$1600
123 km or 77 mi	Kiryat Motzkin	$1666
124 km or 77 mi	Kiryat Yam	$1657
124 km or 77 mi	Kiryat Bialik	$1666
124 km or 77 mi	Shefa-'Amr	$1677
127 km or 79 mi	Kiryat Ata	$1647
130 km or 81 mi	Haifa	$1645
131 km or 82 mi	Nof HaGalil	$1709
132 km or 82 mi	Nesher	$1593
133 km or 83 mi	Nazareth	$1732
137 km or 85 mi	Migdal HaEmek	$1742
142 km or 88 mi	Yokneam Illit	$1778
144 km or 89 mi	Afula	$1652
145 km or 90 mi	Homs	$456
151 km or 94 mi	Irbid	$679
155 km or 97 mi	Zikhron Ya'akov	$1731
156 km or 97 mi	Umm al-Fahm	$1756
165 km or 103 mi	Pardes Hanna-Karkur	$1728
169 km or 105 mi	Baqa-Jatt	$1782
169 km or 105 mi	Hadera	$1576
179 km or 111 mi	Hama	$417
183 km or 114 mi	Jerash	$608
183 km or 114 mi	Netanya	$2138
184 km or 114 mi	Latakia	$386
186 km or 116 mi	Tayibe	$1902

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