Cologne vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cologne	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1968	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4619	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$1091	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$1830	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$536	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$196	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3266	$1614
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	91	74
😀 Quality of life	96	62
🏙️ Population	1.09M	4.43M

The cost of living in Cologne is 82% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2104th and 5031st ($1968 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th 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 1.7 months in Cologne compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Cologne ranked 1st best city to live in Germany vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 23rd and 5648th 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	$15.4	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.5	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.26	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$4.06	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.38	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1103	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$870	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1997	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1478	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$206	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.8	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.8%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6855	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5848	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.93	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$67.6	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.03	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.38	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.03	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.87	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.16	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.7	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.6	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.3	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.63	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.77	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.45	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.3	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.05	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.07	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.45	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.3	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.3	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.3	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.9	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$98	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$109	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19386	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1759
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$2037
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1745
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1744
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1741
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1740
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1726
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1750
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1699
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1740
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1711
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1702
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1727
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1736
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1708
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1695
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1770
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1694
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1678
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1716
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1642
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1747
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1957
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1674
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1691
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1654
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1630
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1645
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1650
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1666
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1659
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1608
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1661
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1611
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1674
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1650
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1613
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1662
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1689
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1979

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