Bucharest vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Bucharest	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1036	$1079
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2606	$2553
🏠 One person rent	$496	$487
🏘️ Family rent	$863	$837
🍽️ Food expenses	$354	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.4	$204
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1242	$1695
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	76	72
😀 Quality of life	78	58
🏙️ Population	1.72M	4.43M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 4% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 5404th and 5069th ($1036 vs $1079) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd 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 1.6 months in Johannesburg. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 642nd and 5446th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$10.6	$9.91
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$47	$40.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.53	$5.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.06	$2.31
☕ Cappuccino	$3.18	$2.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.11	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$545	$405
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$348	$361
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$948	$781
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$640	$657
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$99	$72.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$152	$111
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.34	$44.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.21%	11.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2831	$1096
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1759	$753
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.67	$1.89
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.6	$81.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.92	$10.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.64	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.77	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.32	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.2	$10.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.76	$5.16
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$6.49
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.62
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.48
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.08	$1.4
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.11	$1.51
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.93	$6.14
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.18	$1.36
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.06	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.85	$6.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.36	$4.18
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.78	$2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.29	$1.53
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.3	$33.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.19	$7.67
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$55	$29.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$6.42
👖 Brand Jeans	$78.8	$51.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$87.9	$91.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$532	$241
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10286	$5865

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	$900
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$852
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$786
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$668
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$757
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$663
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$795
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$727
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$759
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$772
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$631
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$644
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$955
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$793
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$688
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$684
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$751
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$755
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$751
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$721
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$744
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$589
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$831
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$624
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$931
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$961
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1035
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$561
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$837
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$693
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$832
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$761
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$846
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$759
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$584
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$573
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$876
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$735
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$640
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$721

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$997
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$874
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$971
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$822
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$696
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$838
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$909
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$717
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$848
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$943
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$819
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$841
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$788
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$774
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$809
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$692
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$718
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$690
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$623
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$791
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$654
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$459
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$627
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$581
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$554
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$859
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$1003
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$600
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1116
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$834
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$585
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045