Dresden vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dresden	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1555	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3707	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$755	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$1271	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$510	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$155	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3206	$1614
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	65	74
😀 Quality of life	89	62
🏙️ Population	566K	4.43M

The cost of living in Dresden is 44% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 3768th and 5031st ($1555 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 462nd and 4th in Germany and South Africa, respectively. Check Germany vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Dresden compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Dresden ranked 28th best city to live in Germany vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 263rd and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dresden vs Johannesburg infographic

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

Prices in Dresden vs Johannesburg

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

	Dresden	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.8	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.4	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.15	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$3.93	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.53	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$706	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$491	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1259	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$871	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$182	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$283	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.1	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.04%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5084	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3851	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.74	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$68.2	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.99	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.85	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.48	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.61	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.3	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21.7	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.21	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.97	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.72	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.74	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.59	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.15	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.21	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.55	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.43	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.66	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$35.7	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.9	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$53.6	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.1	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$84.9	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$342	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14681	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1490
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1485
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1475
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1473
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1448
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1301
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1436
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1182
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1408
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$986
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1063
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1432
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1489
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1486
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1446
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1028
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1385
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1196
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1211
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1125
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1374
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1435
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1401
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1491
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1471
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1427
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1251
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1428
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1363
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1396
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1084
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1195
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1601
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1690
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1207
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1337
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1152
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1187
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1117
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1563

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