Dresden vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Dresden	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1448	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3599	$2788
🏠 One person rent	$637	$547
🏘️ Family rent	$1099	$919
🍽️ Food expenses	$517	$351
🚐 Transport expenses	$159	$210
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3219	$420
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	65	73
😀 Quality of life	92	60
🏙️ Population	566K	4.8M

The cost of living in Dresden is 20% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 4158th and 4745th ($1448 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 592nd 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 2.2 months in Dresden compared to 0.3 months in Johannesburg. Dresden ranked 17th best city to live in Germany vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 96th and 5850th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$14.5	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.7	$46
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.1	$6.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.44	$2.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.13	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.84	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$652	$473
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$423	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1203	$862
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$764	$679
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$210	$164
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.8	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.99%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5147	$1060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2772	$777
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.96	$1.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.2	$92.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.7	$8.38
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.06	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.77	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$1.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.69	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$8.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$5.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.9	$9.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$2.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.2	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$1.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.69	$2.07
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.73	$0.86
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.74	$1.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.91	$6.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.07	$1.89
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.96	$3.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.37	$5.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.47	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.43	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.66	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13	$8.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.6	$31
💇 Haircut, simple	$16	$7.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$87.6	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$446	$244
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15933	$5103

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	$1412
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1410
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1417
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1424
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1430
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1316
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1445
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1216
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1440
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$1006
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1141
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1503
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1517
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1461
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1470
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1094
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1530
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1276
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1332
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1174
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1464
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1419
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1438
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1505
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1482
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1460
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1299
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1467
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1332
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1363
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1131
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1174
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1579
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1659
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1244
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1402
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1112
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1195
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1218
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1551

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$1104
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$912
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1031
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$851
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$784
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$997
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1015
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$742
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$994
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$902
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$875
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$872
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$811
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$903
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$691
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$723
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$691
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$607
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$882
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$663
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$494
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$660
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$611
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$549
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$904
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$912
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$590
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1014
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$938
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$632
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$965