Brisbane vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Brisbane	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2323	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5585	$2788
🏠 One person rent	$1439	$547
🏘️ Family rent	$2525	$919
🍽️ Food expenses	$586	$351
🚐 Transport expenses	$144	$210
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4313	$420
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	66	73
😀 Quality of life	97	60
🏙️ Population	2.71M	4.8M

The cost of living in Brisbane is 93% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 1241st and 4745th ($2323 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 4th in Australia and South Africa, respectively. Check Australia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Brisbane compared to 0.3 months in Johannesburg. Brisbane ranked 3rd best city to live in Australia vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 3rd and 5850th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Brisbane vs Johannesburg

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

	Brisbane	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.8	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.2	$46
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$6.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.69	$2.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.32	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1733	$473
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1173	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3028	$862
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2142	$679
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.5	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$164
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54.9	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.91%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8341	$1060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5970	$777
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$1.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.5	$92.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.6	$8.38
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.39	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.63	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.24	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.91	$1.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.18	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$8.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$5.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$9.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$2.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$1.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.11	$2.07
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.87	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$0.86
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.95	$1.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.2	$6.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.98	$1.89
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.3	$3.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$5.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.49	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.62	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.3	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$8.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.5	$31
💇 Haircut, simple	$24	$7.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$87.8	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2164	$244
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13265	$5103

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brisbane

Distance	City	Cost of living
31 km or 19 mi	Ipswich	$1825
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1992
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2341
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2530
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1863
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1838
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1720
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2672
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1883
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1720
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1273
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1643
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1642
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1995
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1855
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2354
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$2040
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1709
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2481
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2844
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1701
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1460
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1695
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1795
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2258
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1825
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$2015
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1816
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1905
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1493
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$2000
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1933
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1936
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2543
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1915
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1834
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1913

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