Bucharest vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bucharest	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$988	$993
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2566	$2403
🏠 One person rent	$474	$441
🏘️ Family rent	$877	$809
🍽️ Food expenses	$339	$288
🚐 Transport expenses	$67.6	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1247	$1383
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	77	72
😀 Quality of life	79	57
🏙️ Population	1.72M	4.43M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 0.5% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 5565th and 5539th ($988 vs $993) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd 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 1.4 months in Johannesburg. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 645th and 5667th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bucharest vs Johannesburg infographic

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

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	$10.5	$9.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$44.7	$37.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.25	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$2.37
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$0.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$377
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$337	$318
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$999	$790
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$658	$627
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$90.8	$71.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.28	$39.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.1%	11.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3094	$1031
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1793	$684
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.63	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$17.3	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.57	$9.35
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.52	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.36
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.05	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.55	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.56	$5.04
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$6.12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.49
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.94	$1.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.01	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.28	$5.96
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$1.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.84	$2.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.38	$5.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.93	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.61	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.03	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$33.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.92	$7.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.8	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$5.55
👖 Brand Jeans	$72.9	$48.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$84	$88.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$569	$214
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11573	$5271

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	$867
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$847
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$796
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$633
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$704
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$629
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$729
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$696
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$722
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$743
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$623
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$622
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$938
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$770
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$594
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$680
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$702
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$752
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$741
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$848
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$598
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$786
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$631
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$892
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$929
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1002
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$546
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$698
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$837
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$718
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$812
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$725
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$574
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$721
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$687
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$650
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$605
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$758

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