Brisbane vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Brisbane	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2065	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4896	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$1253	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$2149	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$525	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$152	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3956	$1614
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	66	74
😀 Quality of life	98	62
🏙️ Population	2.71M	4.43M

The cost of living in Brisbane is 91% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 1813th and 5031st ($2065 vs $1082) 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 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Brisbane ranked 3rd best city to live in Australia vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 9th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brisbane vs Johannesburg infographic

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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	$14.4	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$62.7	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$3.66	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.65	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1514	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1022	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1816	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.2	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$125	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.5	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.15%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8291	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6020	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.33	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.8	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.6	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.41	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.8	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.93	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.48	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.41	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.85	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.9	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.28	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.1	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.9	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.28	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.35	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.9	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.8	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.3	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.2	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$76.5	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$102	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1795	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11423	$5503

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	$1662
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1798
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2140
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2297
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1710
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1697
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1639
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1712
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1595
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1184
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1503
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1482
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1839
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1747
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2181
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$1888
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1599
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2292
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2640
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1568
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1364
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1580
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1678
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2019
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1667
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$1683
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1662
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1771
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1362
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$1813
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1768
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1725
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2308
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1706
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1681
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1736

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