Bishkek vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bishkek	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$743	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1747	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$398	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$699	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$239	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.1	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$362	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	44	74
😀 Quality of life	57	62
🏙️ Population	1.19M	4.43M

The cost of living in Bishkek is 31% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 6893rd and 5031st ($743 vs $1082) 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 0.5 months in Bishkek compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Bishkek ranked 1st best city to live in Kyrgyzstan vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 6164th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bishkek vs Johannesburg infographic

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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	$6.84	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.2	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.66	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.17	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.68	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$450	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$339	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$792	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$615	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$24.7	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.5	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$11.8	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.35%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1533	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1076	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.23	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.19	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.47	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.03	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.91	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.47	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.16	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.04	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.83	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.97	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.04	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.8	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.26	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.4	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.98	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.82	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.9	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.6	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$207	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5611	$5503

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	$501
59 km or 37 mi	Tokmok	$613
171 km or 106 mi	Toktogul	$615
171 km or 106 mi	Kaskelen	$787
194 km or 121 mi	Almaty	$884
195 km or 121 mi	Talas	$532
198 km or 123 mi	Naryn	$573
207 km or 129 mi	Cholpon-Ata	$629
233 km or 145 mi	Kapchagay	$762
251 km or 156 mi	Jalal-Abad	$585
261 km or 162 mi	Taraz	$445
299 km or 186 mi	Osh	$549
303 km or 188 mi	Andijan	$451
317 km or 197 mi	Namangan	$562
357 km or 222 mi	Margilan	$648
360 km or 224 mi	Fergana	$680
376 km or 233 mi	Artux	$639
387 km or 240 mi	Taldiqorgan	$678
398 km or 247 mi	Kashgar	$651
411 km or 256 mi	Shymkent	$525
439 km or 273 mi	Chirchiq	$754
444 km or 276 mi	Balkhash	$618
449 km or 279 mi	Konibodom	$626
471 km or 292 mi	Tashkent	$844
482 km or 300 mi	Istiklol	$620
497 km or 309 mi	Kentau	$468
498 km or 310 mi	Ghafurov	$600
499 km or 310 mi	Buston	$650
502 km or 312 mi	Khujand	$603
506 km or 314 mi	Aksu	$625
516 km or 320 mi	Turkistan	$480
558 km or 346 mi	Yining	$559
568 km or 353 mi	Istaravshan	$658
614 km or 382 mi	Aral	$614
637 km or 396 mi	Jizzakh	$555
642 km or 399 mi	Bole	$544
682 km or 424 mi	Dushanbe	$712
691 km or 430 mi	Panjakent	$674
721 km or 448 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
729 km or 453 mi	Samarkand	$475

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