Copenhagen vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Copenhagen	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2601	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6038	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$1451	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$2570	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$729	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$221	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4591	$1614
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	92	74
😀 Quality of life	98	62
🏙️ Population	667K	4.43M

The cost of living in Copenhagen is 140% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 713th and 5031st ($2601 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 4th in Denmark and South Africa, respectively. Check Denmark vs South Africa comparison.

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

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Prices in Copenhagen vs Johannesburg

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

	Copenhagen	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23.6	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$109	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.3	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.14	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$6.84	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.58	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1734	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1183	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3186	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2138	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$182	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.92%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9559	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6448	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.63	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$116	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$29.7	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.23	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.26	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.19	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.15	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.69	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.7	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.9	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.42	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.79	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.57	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.12	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.01	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.2	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.86	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.1	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.94	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.62	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52.2	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$20.5	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$69.4	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$37.7	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$125	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$131	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$614	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17654	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Copenhagen

Distance	City	Cost of living
2 km or 1.3 mi	Frederiksberg	$2617
8.5 km or 5.3 mi	Gentofte	$2379
23 km or 14 mi	Horsholm	$2184
28 km or 17 mi	Landskrona	$1421
30 km or 19 mi	Malmo	$1757
31 km or 19 mi	Roskilde	$2086
33 km or 21 mi	Hillerod	$2280
40 km or 25 mi	Lund	$1619
40 km or 25 mi	Staffanstorp	$1598
40 km or 25 mi	Helsingor	$1977
42 km or 26 mi	Helsingborg	$1485
51 km or 32 mi	Trelleborg	$1591
66 km or 41 mi	Angelholm	$1485
71 km or 44 mi	Naestved	$2029
92 km or 57 mi	Hassleholm	$1472
104 km or 65 mi	Kristianstad	$1386
111 km or 69 mi	Halmstad	$1362
141 km or 88 mi	Odense	$1805
141 km or 88 mi	Svendborg	$1785
154 km or 96 mi	Ljungby	$1502
156 km or 97 mi	Aarhus	$2088
156 km or 97 mi	Stralsund	$1523
159 km or 99 mi	Varberg	$1444
171 km or 106 mi	Horsens	$1770
177 km or 110 mi	Fredericia	$1668
179 km or 111 mi	Rostock	$1481
179 km or 111 mi	Randers	$1675
185 km or 115 mi	Greifswald	$1515
190 km or 118 mi	Varnamo	$1529
190 km or 118 mi	Vejle	$1869
193 km or 120 mi	Vaxjo	$1482
196 km or 122 mi	Sonderborg	$1563
196 km or 122 mi	Kolding	$1675
196 km or 122 mi	Silkeborg	$1861
199 km or 124 mi	Karlskrona	$1460
199 km or 124 mi	Haderslev	$1662
211 km or 131 mi	Wismar	$1421
211 km or 131 mi	Gustrow	$1467
215 km or 133 mi	Viborg	$1658
216 km or 134 mi	Kiel	$1678

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