Bucharest vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Bucharest	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1148	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2906	$2788
🏠 One person rent	$562	$547
🏘️ Family rent	$953	$919
🍽️ Food expenses	$380	$351
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.3	$210
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1455	$420
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	78	73
😀 Quality of life	84	60
🏙️ Population	1.72M	4.8M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 5% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 4877th and 4745th ($1148 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 4th in Romania and South Africa, respectively. Check Romania vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Bucharest compared to 0.3 months in Johannesburg. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 482nd 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 Bucharest vs Johannesburg

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

	Bucharest	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.6	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.8	$46
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.12	$6.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.49	$2.44
☕ Cappuccino	$3.67	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.58	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$600	$473
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$404	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1100	$862
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$694	$679
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$169	$164
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.73	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.95%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3876	$1060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2257	$777
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.89	$1.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$20.9	$92.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.32	$8.38
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.89	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.75	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.78	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.51	$8.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.56	$5.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$9.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$2.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$2.07
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.78	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.86
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$1.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.48	$6.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.89
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$3.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.99	$5.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.53	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$46.2	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.26	$8.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.5	$31
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$7.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$84.4	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.5	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$703	$244
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14018	$5103

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$995
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$920
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$896
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$800
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$776
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$708
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$801
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$722
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$771
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$1018
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$653
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$672
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1120
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$762
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$801
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$705
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$701
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$804
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$857
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$870
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$953
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$662
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$906
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$610
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1140
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1041
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1119
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$676
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$818
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$733
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$874
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$824
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$823
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$809
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$702
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$855
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$749
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$807
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$673
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$725

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