Brussels vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Brussels	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2028	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4874	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$1133	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$1958	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$649	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$97.4	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3458	$1614
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	96	74
😀 Quality of life	91	62
🏙️ Population	196K	4.43M

The cost of living in Brussels is 87% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 1913th and 5031st ($2028 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Belgium and South Africa, respectively. Check Belgium vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Brussels compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 165th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Johannesburg infographic

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

Prices in Brussels vs Johannesburg

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

	Brussels	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$25.6	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$77.4	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.1	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.38	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.18	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1090	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$879	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1983	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1587	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$155	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$235	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$57.3	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.23%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4704	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3801	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.93	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$63.9	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.7	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.95	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.63	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.66	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.86	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.7	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.95	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.55	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.76	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.57	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.21	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.2	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.07	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.32	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.2	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.9	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$102	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1055	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22658	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1854
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1876
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1889
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1931
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1758
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1847
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1858
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1870
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1732
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1845
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1816
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$2025
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1835
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1791
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1863
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1787
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1835
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1801
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1806
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1745
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1823
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1768
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1846
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1867
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1571
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1648
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1746
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1737
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1657
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1830
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1696
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1794
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1722
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1724
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1745
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1671
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1867
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1804
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1666
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1818

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