Chicago vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chicago	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2678	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6655	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$1596	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$2946	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$700	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$200	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4876	$1598
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	100	63
😀 Quality of life	95	38
🏙️ Population	2.75M	1.27M

The cost of living in Chicago is 190% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 529th and 5917th ($2678 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 483rd and 6th in the United States and South Africa, respectively. Check the United States vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Chicago compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Chicago ranked 3rd best city to live in the United States vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 23rd and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chicago vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in Chicago vs Soweto

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

	Chicago	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.9	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90.6	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$5.4	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.95	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1841	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1327	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3729	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2474	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$104	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$62.1	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.68%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3391	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2689	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.48	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$75.1	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.1	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.68	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.61	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.13	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.43	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.81	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.85	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$15	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.02	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.63	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$29.8	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.4	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2114	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24502	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chicago

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Cicero	$2425
14 km or 8.8 mi	Berwyn	$2421
14 km or 8.9 mi	Oak Park	$2510
16 km or 10 mi	Elmwood Park	$2426
18 km or 11 mi	Maywood	$2444
18 km or 11 mi	Evanston	$2194
19 km or 12 mi	Skokie	$2256
19 km or 12 mi	Burbank	$2401
20 km or 12 mi	Melrose Park	$2418
21 km or 13 mi	Oak Lawn	$2384
22 km or 14 mi	Morton Grove	$2314
22 km or 14 mi	Niles	$2334
23 km or 14 mi	Park Ridge	$2389
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmette	$2264
25 km or 16 mi	Blue Island	$2377
26 km or 16 mi	Elmhurst	$2392
27 km or 17 mi	Glenview	$2363
28 km or 17 mi	Des Plaines	$2509
28 km or 18 mi	Dolton	$2359
29 km or 18 mi	Villa Park	$2393
30 km or 19 mi	Harvey	$2360
30 km or 19 mi	East Chicago	$1938
30 km or 19 mi	Westmont	$2362
31 km or 19 mi	Calumet	$2363
31 km or 20 mi	South Holland	$2344
32 km or 20 mi	Lombard	$2396
32 km or 20 mi	Hammond	$1948
32 km or 20 mi	Oak Forest	$2350
33 km or 20 mi	Northbrook	$2378
33 km or 20 mi	Mount Prospect	$2446
33 km or 20 mi	Darien	$2369
33 km or 21 mi	Elk Grove Village	$2506
34 km or 21 mi	Downers Grove	$2342
35 km or 22 mi	Orland Park	$2367
36 km or 22 mi	Lansing	$2342
36 km or 22 mi	Glen Ellyn	$2227
37 km or 23 mi	Highland Park	$2345
37 km or 23 mi	Munster	$1954
37 km or 23 mi	Tinley Park	$2351
37 km or 23 mi	Wheeling	$2371

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$993
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$837
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$953
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$672
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$785
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$807
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$678
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$906
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$820
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$889
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$784
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$768
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$795
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$748
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$780
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$665
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$691
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$664
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$628
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$562
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$763
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$621
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$442
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$567
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$814
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$540
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$583
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$964
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1068
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$809
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$624
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003