Bishkek vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Bishkek	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$789	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1868	$2788
🏠 One person rent	$431	$547
🏘️ Family rent	$766	$919
🍽️ Food expenses	$246	$351
🚐 Transport expenses	$38	$210
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$197	$420
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	44	73
😀 Quality of life	53	60
🏙️ Population	1.19M	4.8M

The cost of living in Bishkek is 34% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 6825th and 4745th ($789 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Kyrgyzstan and South Africa, respectively. Check Kyrgyzstan vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Bishkek compared to 0.3 months in Johannesburg. Bishkek ranked 1st best city to live in Kyrgyzstan vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 6437th and 5850th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Bishkek vs Johannesburg

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

	Bishkek	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.87	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.9	$46
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.78	$6.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$2.44
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.74	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$509	$473
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$909	$862
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$660	$679
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$28.5	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.6	$164
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12.3	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.19%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1669	$1060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1152	$777
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$1.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$92.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.73	$8.38
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.98	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.4	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.47	$8.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.55	$5.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.76	$9.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$2.07
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$0.86
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.17	$1.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.04	$6.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.28	$1.89
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.91	$3.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$5.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.04	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.8	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.25	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.4	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.67	$8.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$31
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.82	$7.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$46.6	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.7	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$221	$244
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7494	$5103

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bishkek

Distance	City	Cost of living
23 km or 14 mi	Kant	$500
59 km or 37 mi	Tokmok	$636
171 km or 106 mi	Toktogul	$646
171 km or 106 mi	Kaskelen	$899
194 km or 121 mi	Almaty	$1014
195 km or 121 mi	Talas	$555
198 km or 123 mi	Naryn	$601
207 km or 129 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$656
233 km or 145 mi	Kapchagay	$876
251 km or 156 mi	Jalal-Abad	$609
261 km or 162 mi	Taraz	$488
299 km or 186 mi	Osh	$570
303 km or 188 mi	Andijan	$471
317 km or 197 mi	Namangan	$572
357 km or 222 mi	Margilan	$669
360 km or 224 mi	Fergana	$688
376 km or 233 mi	Artux	$514
387 km or 240 mi	Taldiqorgan	$764
398 km or 247 mi	Kashgar	$518
411 km or 256 mi	Shymkent	$587
439 km or 273 mi	Chirchiq	$759
444 km or 276 mi	Balkhash	$687
449 km or 279 mi	Konibodom	$610
471 km or 292 mi	Tashkent	$842
482 km or 300 mi	Istiklol	$599
497 km or 309 mi	Kentau	$535
498 km or 310 mi	Ghafurov	$583
499 km or 310 mi	Buston	$622
502 km or 312 mi	Khujand	$576
506 km or 314 mi	Aksu	$521
516 km or 320 mi	Turkistan	$549
558 km or 346 mi	Yining	$579
568 km or 353 mi	Istaravshan	$645
614 km or 382 mi	Aral	$513
637 km or 396 mi	Jizzakh	$568
642 km or 399 mi	Bole	$572
682 km or 424 mi	Dushanbe	$773
691 km or 430 mi	Panjakent	$704
721 km or 448 mi	Tursunzoda	$737
729 km or 453 mi	Samarkand	$497

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