Doha vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Doha	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1849	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4110	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$1204	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$2063	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$412	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$101	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3003	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	44	74
😀 Quality of life	82	62
🏙️ Population	1.19M	4.43M

The cost of living in Doha is 71% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2509th and 5031st ($1849 vs $1082) 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 1.6 months in Doha compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Doha ranked 1st best city to live in Qatar vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 608th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Doha vs Johannesburg infographic

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

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	$10.4	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$55.7	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.4	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$12.3	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$5.46	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1391	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$974	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2548	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1715	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.9	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$96.7	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$84.5	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.15%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5456	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3618	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.55	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$30.8	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.3	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.56	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.06	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.43	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.85	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.3	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.82	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.12	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.33	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.78	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.7	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.26	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.94	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.09	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.89	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.87	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.07	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$118	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.3	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.52	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$100	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$825	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11426	$5503

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	$1770
135 km or 84 mi	Riffa	$1201
138 km or 86 mi	Isa Town	$1230
139 km or 87 mi	Manama	$1237
175 km or 109 mi	Dhahran	$908
188 km or 117 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
191 km or 119 mi	Dammam	$1008
236 km or 147 mi	Qatif	$873
265 km or 165 mi	Jubail	$930
282 km or 175 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
300 km or 187 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
380 km or 236 mi	Dubai	$2514
388 km or 241 mi	Sharjah	$1419
397 km or 247 mi	Ajman	$2521
405 km or 252 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
409 km or 254 mi	Jahrom	$530
414 km or 257 mi	Bushehr	$453
442 km or 275 mi	Borazjan	$477
442 km or 275 mi	Al Ain	$1449
455 km or 283 mi	Fasa	$529
466 km or 289 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
480 km or 298 mi	Kazerun	$503
483 km or 300 mi	Fujairah	$1228
489 km or 304 mi	Shiraz	$553
491 km or 305 mi	Riyadh	$1627
515 km or 320 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
516 km or 320 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
524 km or 325 mi	Marvdasht	$530
573 km or 356 mi	Kuwait City	$1454
597 km or 371 mi	Yasuj	$463
601 km or 374 mi	Al-Faw	$730
602 km or 374 mi	Behbahan	$483
617 km or 383 mi	Sirjan	$534
628 km or 390 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$521
635 km or 394 mi	Umm Qasr	$726
644 km or 400 mi	Abadan	$549
659 km or 409 mi	Khorramshahr	$542
663 km or 412 mi	Nizwa	$792
679 km or 422 mi	Az Zubayr	$719
683 km or 424 mi	Basra	$889

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