Brussels vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$993
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$2403
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$441
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$809
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$288
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$1383
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	96	72
😀 Quality of life	89	57
🏙️ Population	196K	4.43M

The cost of living in Brussels is 83% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2354th and 5539th ($1816 vs $993) 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 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.4 months in Johannesburg. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 190th and 5667th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
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	$18.9	$9.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$37.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$2.37
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$0.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$377
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$318
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$790
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$627
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$71.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$39.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	11.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$1031
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$684
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$9.35
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.36
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$5.04
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$6.12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.49
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$5.96
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$1.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$2.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$5.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$33.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$7.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$5.55
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$48.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$88.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$214
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$5271

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1651
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1663
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1667
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1692
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1580
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1647
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1642
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1660
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1539
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1685
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1618
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1788
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1626
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1556
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1615
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1594
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1541
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1607
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1585
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1536
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1599
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1560
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1663
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1683
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1446
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1492
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1537
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1523
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1461
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1488
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1530
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1362
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1509
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1520
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1475
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1514
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1578
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1613
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1488
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1640

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$953
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$837
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$923
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$785
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$678
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$807
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$906
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$672
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$820
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$889
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$784
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$795
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$768
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$748
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$780
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$665
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$691
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$664
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$562
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$763
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$628
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$442
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$621
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$567
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$540
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$814
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$964
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$583
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1068
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$809
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$624
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003