Chisinau vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chisinau	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$947	$984
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2238	$1812
🏠 One person rent	$528	$567
🏘️ Family rent	$908	$581
🍽️ Food expenses	$290	$247
🚐 Transport expenses	$39.7	$104
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$346	$1672
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	51	63
😀 Quality of life	59	45
🏙️ Population	639K	1.27M

The cost of living in Chisinau is 4% less expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 5968th and 5704th ($947 vs $984) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 7th in Moldova and South Africa, respectively. Check Moldova vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Chisinau compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Chisinau ranked 1st best city to live in Moldova vs Soweto ranked 9th in South Africa, while ranked 6039th and 7050th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chisinau vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in Chisinau vs Soweto

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

	Chisinau	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.01	$6.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.9	$28.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.81	$4.24
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.92	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$1.86	$2.14
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.87	$1.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$521	$867
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$362
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$961	$538
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$677	$415
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$107	$69.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$165	$108
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.23	$33.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.72%	11.64%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2427	$907
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1691	$724
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$13.1	$32.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.39	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.41	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.2	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.53	$0.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.11	$1.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.69	$2.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$8.24
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.76	$4.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.96	$6.66
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$1.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.79	$1.31
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.57	$1.2
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.78	$1.21
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.83	$7.85
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.28	$1.65
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.24	$2.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.08	$2.99
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.17	$2.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.37	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.07	$0.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.3	$13.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.59	$6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20.1	$21.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.14	$3.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.6	$49.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$405	$202
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7015	$3811

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chisinau

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Dubasari	$884
42 km or 26 mi	Orhei	$921
51 km or 32 mi	Bender	$670
61 km or 38 mi	Tiraspol	$546
80 km or 50 mi	Comrat	$901
83 km or 52 mi	Ungheni	$1164
95 km or 59 mi	Vaslui	$804
98 km or 61 mi	Iasi	$964
109 km or 68 mi	Balti	$793
126 km or 79 mi	Barlad	$797
132 km or 82 mi	Cahul	$926
135 km or 84 mi	Soroca	$879
146 km or 91 mi	Roman	$659
154 km or 96 mi	Odesa	$624
155 km or 96 mi	Bacau	$724
184 km or 115 mi	Botosani	$815
187 km or 116 mi	Galati	$895
189 km or 117 mi	Piatra Neamt	$711
194 km or 121 mi	Focsani	$898
202 km or 125 mi	Tulcea	$854
205 km or 127 mi	Braila	$871
209 km or 130 mi	Suceava	$830
238 km or 148 mi	Mykolaiv	$516
250 km or 155 mi	Vinnytsia	$603
259 km or 161 mi	Buzau	$857
261 km or 162 mi	Chernivtsi	$545
267 km or 166 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
288 km or 179 mi	Kherson	$420
292 km or 181 mi	Brasov	$1056
295 km or 183 mi	Slobozia	$762
302 km or 187 mi	Khmelnytskyi	$535
305 km or 189 mi	Kropyvnytskyi	$616
307 km or 191 mi	Mamaia	$1024
315 km or 196 mi	Constanta	$1103
317 km or 197 mi	Ploiesti	$885
324 km or 201 mi	Bila Tserkva	$497
331 km or 206 mi	Targu Mures	$749
332 km or 206 mi	Bistrita	$703
334 km or 207 mi	Calarasi	$775
348 km or 216 mi	Voluntari	$970

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$890
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$984
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$706
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$826
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$892
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$740
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$975
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$875
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$940
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$838
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$808
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$830
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$762
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$833
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$637
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$668
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$637
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$607
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$599
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$827
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$650
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$469
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$577
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$598
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$861
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$514
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$536
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$908
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$915
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$892
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$587
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$915