Bucharest vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$525	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	77	74
😀 Quality of life	81	62
🏙️ Population	1.72M	4.43M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 3% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 4913th and 5031st ($1116 vs $1082) 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 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 646th 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 Bucharest vs Johannesburg infographic

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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	$11.7	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$5503

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	$970
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$910
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$885
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$777
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$802
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$692
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$857
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$775
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$762
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$873
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$675
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$681
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1056
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$752
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$835
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$667
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$789
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$898
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$909
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$643
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$895
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$591
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1039
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1024
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1103
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$618
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$805
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$703
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$854
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$832
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$926
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$797
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$706
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$848
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$766
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$724
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$668
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$749

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