Cali vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Cali	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$850	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2137	$2788
🏠 One person rent	$330	$547
🏘️ Family rent	$553	$919
🍽️ Food expenses	$294	$351
🚐 Transport expenses	$132	$210
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$505	$420
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	47	73
😀 Quality of life	62	60
🏙️ Population	2.47M	4.8M

The cost of living in Cali is 29% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 6549th and 4745th ($850 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 4th in Colombia and South Africa, respectively. Check Colombia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Cali compared to 0.3 months in Johannesburg. Cali ranked 4th best city to live in Colombia vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 5632nd and 5850th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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

Prices in Cali vs Johannesburg

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

	Cali	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.09	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.4	$46
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.81	$6.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.78	$2.44
☕ Cappuccino	$2.67	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.16	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$346	$473
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$227	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$639	$862
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$396	$679
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.4	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$83.8	$164
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$24.5	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.49%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1128	$1060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$904	$777
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.88	$1.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.2	$92.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.9	$8.38
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.14	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.55	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.83	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6	$8.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.99	$5.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.08	$9.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$2.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$2.07
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.86
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.13	$1.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.6	$6.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.29	$1.89
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3	$3.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.65	$5.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.27	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.31	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.83	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$25.8	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.15	$8.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.1	$31
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.54	$7.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.7	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$259	$244
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6818	$5103

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cali

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Palmira	$788
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$856
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$563
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$631
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$606
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$749
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$769
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$749
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$862
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$537
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$559
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$737
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$524
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$802
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$675
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$816
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$958
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$1106
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$694
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$672
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$1041
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$1162
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$593
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$858
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$1012
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$557
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$680
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$613
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$864
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$1045
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$630
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1001
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$740
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$592
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$797
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$795
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$816
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$516
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$653
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$733

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$1104
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$912
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1031
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$851
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$784
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$997
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1015
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$742
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$994
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$902
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$875
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$872
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$811
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$903
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$691
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$723
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$691
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$607
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$882
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$663
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$494
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$660
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$611
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$549
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$904
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$912
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$590
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1014
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$938
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$632
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$965