Budapest vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Budapest	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1377	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3353	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$707	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$1218	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$411	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$120	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1503	$1614
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	92	74
😀 Quality of life	82	62
🏙️ Population	1.69M	4.43M

The cost of living in Budapest is 27% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 4312th and 5031st ($1377 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Hungary and South Africa, respectively. Check Hungary vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Budapest compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 636th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Budapest vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Budapest vs Johannesburg

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

	Budapest	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$55.3	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.58	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.18	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$3.26	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.8	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$735	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$557	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$984	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$23.3	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.04%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5141	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3394	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.48	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.3	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.3	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.63	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.34	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.36	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.19	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.51	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.58	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.95	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.03	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.2	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$60	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.94	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$72.4	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.5	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$95	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.2	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$447	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13171	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$1089
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$936
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$1081
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$1010
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$1059
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$1070
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$943
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$884
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$823
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$1002
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1148
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$895
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1134
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$971
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$946
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$806
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$973
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$1037
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$861
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$949
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1176
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1346
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$982
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$890
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1126
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$917
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$992
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1311
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$913
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$965
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$985
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$808
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$802
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1388
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1497
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$832
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$934
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$1033
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1257
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1162

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