Budapest vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Budapest	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1109	$993
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2730	$2403
🏠 One person rent	$553	$441
🏘️ Family rent	$965	$809
🍽️ Food expenses	$342	$288
🚐 Transport expenses	$105	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1229	$1383
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	92	72
😀 Quality of life	79	57
🏙️ Population	1.69M	4.43M

The cost of living in Budapest is 12% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 4777th and 5539th ($1109 vs $993) 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 1.4 months in Johannesburg. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 618th and 5667th 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

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

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	$9.45	$9.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45	$37.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.53	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.55	$2.37
☕ Cappuccino	$2.77	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.48	$0.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$574	$377
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$426	$318
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$790
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$769	$627
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$79.4	$71.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.1	$39.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.95%	11.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4106	$1031
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2694	$684
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.18	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.7	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$9.35
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.62	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.36
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.78	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.66	$5.04
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$6.12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.49
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.96	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.79	$5.96
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.03	$1.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.93	$2.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.29	$5.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.38	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.15	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$51	$33.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.6	$7.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.5	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.8	$5.55
👖 Brand Jeans	$71.3	$48.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$82.8	$88.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$374	$214
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11151	$5271

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$901
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$790
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$939
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$843
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$924
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$827
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$794
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$762
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$684
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$855
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1045
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$781
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1019
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$823
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$987
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$666
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$786
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$922
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$784
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$784
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1039
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1237
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$802
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$747
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1080
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$794
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$892
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1181
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$676
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$692
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$935
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$681
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$750
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1202
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1275
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$768
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$766
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$848
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1118
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1039

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