Dongguan vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dongguan	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$662	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1882	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$263	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$461	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$234	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$79.2	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$752	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	46 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	69	74
😀 Quality of life	72	62
🏙️ Population	10.5M	4.43M

The cost of living in Dongguan is 39% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 7341st and 5031st ($662 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 78th and 4th in China and South Africa, respectively. Check China vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Dongguan compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Dongguan ranked 20th best city to live in China vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 3389th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dongguan vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Dongguan vs Johannesburg

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

	Dongguan	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.78	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$21	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.89	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.27	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.67	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.44	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$319	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$184	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$568	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39.7	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.1	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$12.2	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.86%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6823	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3488	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.28	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$21.1	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.04	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.62	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.47	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.62	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.1	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.5	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.87	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.78	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.87	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.97	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.23	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$61	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.97	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.3	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.22	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$30	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$61.8	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$445	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21416	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dongguan

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Guangzhou	$758
65 km or 40 mi	Shenzhen	$878
66 km or 41 mi	Foshan	$589
68 km or 43 mi	Huizhou	$608
70 km or 44 mi	Zhongshan	$518
86 km or 53 mi	Jiangmen	$829
88 km or 54 mi	Zhuhai	$662
93 km or 58 mi	Kowloon	$2414
95 km or 59 mi	Hong Kong	$2718
100 km or 62 mi	Macau	$1746
100 km or 62 mi	Qingyuan	$777
124 km or 77 mi	Heyuan	$766
132 km or 82 mi	Kaiping	$827
133 km or 83 mi	Zhaoqing	$794
165 km or 103 mi	Shanwei	$941
176 km or 109 mi	Yunfu	$816
196 km or 122 mi	Shaoguan	$818
226 km or 141 mi	Yangjiang	$892
239 km or 148 mi	Lianzhou	$765
249 km or 155 mi	Puning	$579
253 km or 157 mi	Wuzhou	$809
271 km or 168 mi	Hezhou	$766
273 km or 170 mi	Jieyang	$451
279 km or 173 mi	Meizhou	$669
302 km or 188 mi	Chaozhou	$454
303 km or 188 mi	Shantou	$589
315 km or 195 mi	Chenzhou	$750
323 km or 201 mi	Gaozhou	$780
329 km or 205 mi	Maoming	$773
332 km or 206 mi	Ganzhou	$897
372 km or 231 mi	Yulin	$726
401 km or 249 mi	Zhanjiang	$790
403 km or 250 mi	Longyan	$697
424 km or 263 mi	Guigang	$693
430 km or 267 mi	Guilin	$546
430 km or 267 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
437 km or 271 mi	Yongzhou	$634
444 km or 276 mi	Hengyang	$622
464 km or 288 mi	Liuzhou	$574
467 km or 290 mi	Laibin	$598

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