Canberra vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Canberra	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2019	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4571	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$1242	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$1958	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$519	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$129	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3565	$1614
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	30	74
😀 Quality of life	86	62
🏙️ Population	381K	4.43M

The cost of living in Canberra is 87% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 1949th and 5031st ($2019 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 14th and 4th in Australia and South Africa, respectively. Check Australia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Canberra compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Canberra ranked 10th best city to live in Australia vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 413th 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 Canberra vs Johannesburg infographic

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

Prices in Canberra vs Johannesburg

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

	Canberra	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.3	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.8	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.5	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.6	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$3.3	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.6	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1348	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1007	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2461	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1543	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$121	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$185	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$46.7	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.01%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7420	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4762	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.28	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$105	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.7	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.34	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.41	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.51	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.15	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.15	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.88	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.77	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.11	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.3	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.74	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.8	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.62	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.37	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.95	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50.5	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.9	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.7	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.6	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.9	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.5	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1751	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13305	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Canberra

Distance	City	Cost of living
81 km or 50 mi	Goulburn	$1678
161 km or 100 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
187 km or 116 mi	Wollongong	$1580
212 km or 132 mi	Bathurst	$1568
223 km or 139 mi	Orange	$1364
235 km or 146 mi	Blacktown	$1599
238 km or 148 mi	Parramatta	$2292
243 km or 151 mi	Kellyville	$1888
247 km or 154 mi	Sydney	$2640
261 km or 162 mi	Dee Why	$2181
303 km or 188 mi	Griffith	$1667
341 km or 212 mi	Dubbo	$1747
357 km or 222 mi	Shepparton	$1662
358 km or 222 mi	Newcastle	$1839
397 km or 246 mi	Traralgon	$1813
448 km or 278 mi	Pakenham	$1725
454 km or 282 mi	Berwick	$1706
459 km or 285 mi	Dandenong	$1736
464 km or 288 mi	Cranbourne	$1674
466 km or 289 mi	South Yarra	$1681
466 km or 290 mi	Bendigo	$1362
466 km or 290 mi	Melbourne	$2308
470 km or 292 mi	Sunbury	$1768
477 km or 297 mi	Frankston	$1728
485 km or 302 mi	Melton	$1738
488 km or 303 mi	Tarneit	$1673
489 km or 304 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1697
531 km or 330 mi	Geelong	$2058
535 km or 332 mi	Ballarat	$1464
554 km or 344 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
583 km or 362 mi	Armidale	$1184
649 km or 403 mi	Mildura	$1771
669 km or 415 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
684 km or 425 mi	Warrnambool	$1718
698 km or 434 mi	Devonport	$1786
706 km or 438 mi	Launceston	$1660
796 km or 495 mi	Mount Gambier	$1753
852 km or 529 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
858 km or 533 mi	Hobart	$2127
902 km or 560 mi	Toowoomba	$1639

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