Cologne vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cologne	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1744	$993
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4212	$2403
🏠 One person rent	$947	$441
🏘️ Family rent	$1673	$809
🍽️ Food expenses	$491	$288
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3148	$1383
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	92	72
😀 Quality of life	96	57
🏙️ Population	1.09M	4.43M

The cost of living in Cologne is 76% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2551st and 5539th ($1744 vs $993) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 4th in Germany and South Africa, respectively. Check Germany vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.4 months in Johannesburg. Cologne ranked 2nd best city to live in Germany vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 12th and 5667th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cologne vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Cologne vs Johannesburg

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

	Cologne	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.1	$9.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$37.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.67	$2.37
☕ Cappuccino	$3.64	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$0.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$963	$377
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$743	$318
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1902	$790
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$627
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$71.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.4	$39.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	11.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6163	$1031
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5539	$684
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.6	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.1	$9.35
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$1.36
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.95	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$5.04
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$6.12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.49
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.22	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.56	$5.96
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$1.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.09	$2.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$5.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.2	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$33.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$7.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.2	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$5.55
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$48.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$88.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$214
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15595	$5271

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1578
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$1822
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1569
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1559
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1572
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1554
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1586
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1551
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1536
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1576
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1561
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1534
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1577
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1544
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1559
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1529
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1554
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1523
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1518
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1522
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1497
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1542
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1677
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1522
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1580
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1502
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1497
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1517
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1504
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1494
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1499
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1494
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1516
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1446
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1503
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1495
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1479
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1490
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1500
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772

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