Dar es Salaam vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dar es Salaam	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$799	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2068	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$363	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$605	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$244	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$130	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$288	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	45	74
😀 Quality of life	59	62
🏙️ Population	4.72M	4.43M

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 26% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 6675th and 5031st ($799 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Tanzania and South Africa, respectively. Check Tanzania vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 6017th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Johannesburg infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/dar-es-salaam/johannesburg.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Johannesburg infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dar-es-salaam/johannesburg" target="_blank">Dar es Salaam vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Johannesburg

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

	Dar es Salaam	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.25	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$19.3	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.09	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$419	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$235	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$737	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$422	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$55.2	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.4	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$36.1	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.82%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1361	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1189	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.27	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.8	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.8	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.15	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.75	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.32	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.7	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.98	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.14	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.29	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.28	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$87.5	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.52	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.8	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.61	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$22.3	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$40.7	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$435	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17749	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$609
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$567
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$421
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$552
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$596
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$526
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$548
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$533
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$612
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$420
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$811
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$495
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$460
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1207
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1511
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$527
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$549
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$503
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1207
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$565
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$656
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1168
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$543
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$935
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$528
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1624
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$511
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$496
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$888
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$592
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$623
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$493
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$654
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$458
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$582
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$687
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$578
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$688
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$687

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