Boston vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Boston	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3652	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$8068	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$2548	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$4099	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$735	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$144	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6190	$1614
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	100	74
😀 Quality of life	94	62
🏙️ Population	676K	4.43M

The cost of living in Boston is 237% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 27th and 5031st ($3652 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 21st and 4th in the United States and South Africa, respectively. Check the United States vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Boston compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Boston ranked 12th best city to live in the United States vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 71st and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Boston vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Boston vs Johannesburg

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

	Boston	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$104	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.7	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.06	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.89	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2890	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2183	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5272	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3425	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$231	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$74.5	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.39%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9693	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6005	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.39	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$89.8	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.5	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.68	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.86	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.54	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.2	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.6	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.14	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.83	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.32	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.62	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.82	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.29	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.4	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.56	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.02	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.01	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.01	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$93.3	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.5	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$189	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$27.9	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.5	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2782	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27427	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Boston

Distance	City	Cost of living
4 km or 2.5 mi	Cambridge	$3768
4.4 km or 2.7 mi	Chelsea	$3107
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Somerville	$3647
5.6 km or 3.5 mi	Everett	$2977
5.7 km or 3.5 mi	Brookline	$3134
6.9 km or 4.3 mi	Revere	$2960
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Malden	$3002
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Medford	$2701
10 km or 6.2 mi	Belmont	$2997
10 km or 6.2 mi	Arlington	$2937
10 km or 6.2 mi	Watertown	$2952
11 km or 6.9 mi	Melrose	$2865
12 km or 7.5 mi	Milton	$2981
12 km or 7.5 mi	Winchester	$2821
12 km or 7.7 mi	Newton	$2811
13 km or 7.8 mi	Saugus	$2815
13 km or 8.1 mi	Quincy	$3159
14 km or 8.6 mi	Stoneham	$2785
14 km or 8.9 mi	Waltham	$2866
15 km or 9.4 mi	Lynn	$2732
15 km or 9.5 mi	Woburn	$2646
16 km or 9.6 mi	Dedham	$2915
16 km or 10 mi	Needham	$2854
16 km or 10 mi	Lexington	$2769
16 km or 10 mi	Wakefield	$2750
18 km or 11 mi	Braintree	$2922
18 km or 11 mi	Weymouth	$2929
19 km or 12 mi	Reading	$2728
19 km or 12 mi	Hingham	$2913
20 km or 12 mi	Burlington	$2414
20 km or 13 mi	Wellesley	$2838
21 km or 13 mi	Norwood	$2862
22 km or 14 mi	Peabody	$2837
22 km or 14 mi	Randolph	$2869
22 km or 14 mi	Salem	$3016
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmington	$2582
23 km or 14 mi	Marblehead	$2817
23 km or 14 mi	Canton	$2855
25 km or 16 mi	Natick	$2920
26 km or 16 mi	Stoughton	$2833

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