Doha vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Doha	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1779	$993
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4033	$2403
🏠 One person rent	$1140	$441
🏘️ Family rent	$2017	$809
🍽️ Food expenses	$408	$288
🚐 Transport expenses	$104	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3416	$1383
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	45	72
😀 Quality of life	80	57
🏙️ Population	1.19M	4.43M

The cost of living in Doha is 79% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2449th and 5539th ($1779 vs $993) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Qatar and South Africa, respectively. Check Qatar vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Doha compared to 1.4 months in Johannesburg. Doha ranked 1st best city to live in Qatar vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 562nd and 5667th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Doha vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Doha vs Johannesburg

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

	Doha	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.28	$9.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$52.4	$37.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.25	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$12	$2.37
☕ Cappuccino	$5.25	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$0.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1393	$377
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$888	$318
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2490	$790
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1664	$627
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$65.8	$71.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$103	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$85.3	$39.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.84%	11.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4779	$1031
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3550	$684
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.55	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.3	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.1	$9.35
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.57	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.09	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.52	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$1.36
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.87	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$5.04
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$6.12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.49
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.98	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17	$5.96
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.28	$1.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.25	$2.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.11	$5.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.92	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.85	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.07	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$108	$33.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.8	$7.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$48.7	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.65	$5.55
👖 Brand Jeans	$63	$48.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.1	$88.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$770	$214
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11200	$5271

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Doha

Distance	City	Cost of living
43 km or 27 mi	Al Khor	$1709
135 km or 84 mi	Riffa	$1223
138 km or 86 mi	Isa Town	$1243
139 km or 87 mi	Manama	$1280
175 km or 109 mi	Dhahran	$1068
188 km or 117 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
191 km or 119 mi	Dammam	$1056
236 km or 147 mi	Qatif	$897
265 km or 165 mi	Jubail	$901
282 km or 175 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
300 km or 187 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
380 km or 236 mi	Dubai	$2379
388 km or 241 mi	Sharjah	$1494
397 km or 247 mi	Ajman	$2240
405 km or 252 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
409 km or 254 mi	Jahrom	$547
414 km or 257 mi	Bushehr	$551
442 km or 275 mi	Borazjan	$546
442 km or 275 mi	Al Ain	$1844
455 km or 283 mi	Fasa	$548
466 km or 289 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
480 km or 298 mi	Kazerun	$557
483 km or 300 mi	Fujairah	$1239
489 km or 304 mi	Shiraz	$589
491 km or 305 mi	Riyadh	$1637
515 km or 320 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
516 km or 320 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
524 km or 325 mi	Marvdasht	$563
573 km or 356 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
597 km or 371 mi	Yasuj	$529
601 km or 374 mi	Al-Faw	$736
602 km or 374 mi	Behbahan	$536
617 km or 383 mi	Sirjan	$514
628 km or 390 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
635 km or 394 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
644 km or 400 mi	Abadan	$547
659 km or 409 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
663 km or 412 mi	Nizwa	$780
679 km or 422 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
683 km or 424 mi	Basra	$904

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