Bern vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Bern	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2512	$1079
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6867	$2553
🏠 One person rent	$1268	$487
🏘️ Family rent	$2589	$837
🍽️ Food expenses	$860	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$116	$204
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6657	$1695
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	80	72
😀 Quality of life	95	58
🏙️ Population	135K	4.43M

The cost of living in Bern is 133% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 743rd and 5069th ($2512 vs $1079) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 44th and 3rd in Switzerland and South Africa, respectively. Check Switzerland vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.6 months in Bern compared to 1.6 months in Johannesburg. Bern ranked 6th best city to live in Switzerland vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 33rd and 5446th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bern vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Bern vs Johannesburg

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

	Bern	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$25	$9.91
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$88.7	$40.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$17.7	$5.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.39	$2.31
☕ Cappuccino	$5.76	$2.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.78	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1341	$405
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$956	$361
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2706	$781
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2140	$657
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$185	$72.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$286	$111
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50	$44.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.54%	11.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$14168	$1096
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12333	$753
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.57	$1.89
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$93.3	$81.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$42.3	$10.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.14	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.11	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.14	$1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.23	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$7.71	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$25.9	$10.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$29.8	$5.16
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$45.5	$6.49
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.89	$1.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.62
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.63	$1.48
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.69	$1.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$1.4
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.67	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.01	$1.51
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.7	$6.14
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.03	$1.36
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.4	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14	$6.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.66	$4.18
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.08	$2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.04	$1.53
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$76.3	$33.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$22.9	$7.67
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$151	$29.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$40.9	$6.42
👖 Brand Jeans	$138	$51.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$165	$91.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2516	$241
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22088	$5865

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bern

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.5 km or 2.2 mi	Koniz	$2592
25 km or 16 mi	Thun	$2646
26 km or 16 mi	Biel/Bienne	$2517
28 km or 17 mi	Fribourg	$2738
40 km or 25 mi	Neuchatel	$2424
43 km or 27 mi	Interlaken	$2746
48 km or 30 mi	Bulle	$2823
50 km or 31 mi	La Chaux-de-Fonds	$2373
64 km or 40 mi	Kriens	$2989
64 km or 40 mi	Yverdon-les-Bains	$2940
66 km or 41 mi	Lucerne	$3068
66 km or 41 mi	Emmen	$3020
67 km or 42 mi	Aarau	$2207
67 km or 42 mi	Allschwil	$2843
69 km or 43 mi	Basel	$2741
70 km or 44 mi	Montreux	$3257
71 km or 44 mi	Saint-Louis	$1399
72 km or 45 mi	Riehen	$3415
73 km or 45 mi	Rheinfelden	$1551
73 km or 45 mi	Weil am Rhein	$1538
76 km or 47 mi	Lorrach	$1531
77 km or 48 mi	Lausanne	$2890
80 km or 50 mi	Sion	$2052
80 km or 50 mi	Renens	$2871
85 km or 53 mi	Zug	$3627
86 km or 54 mi	Baar	$3320
87 km or 54 mi	Baden	$3206
88 km or 55 mi	Wettingen	$3135
88 km or 55 mi	Dietikon	$3048
88 km or 55 mi	Belfort	$1384
89 km or 56 mi	Mulhouse	$1366
92 km or 57 mi	Altstetten	$3139
94 km or 58 mi	Horgen	$3163
95 km or 59 mi	Waldshut-Tiengen	$1559
95 km or 59 mi	Zurich	$3392
98 km or 61 mi	Wadenswil	$3145
102 km or 63 mi	Dubendorf	$3129
104 km or 65 mi	Bulach	$3013
106 km or 66 mi	Uster	$3057
109 km or 68 mi	Rapperswil-Jona	$3011

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$997
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$874
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$971
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$822
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$696
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$838
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$909
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$717
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$848
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$943
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$819
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$841
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$788
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$774
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$809
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$692
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$718
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$690
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$623
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$791
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$654
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$459
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$627
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$581
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$554
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$859
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$1003
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$600
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1116
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$834
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$585
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045