Dubai vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Dubai	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2309	$1079
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5128	$2553
🏠 One person rent	$1523	$487
🏘️ Family rent	$2687	$837
🍽️ Food expenses	$458	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$185	$204
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3493	$1695
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	64	72
😀 Quality of life	86	58
🏙️ Population	3.33M	4.43M

The cost of living in Dubai is 114% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 1098th and 5069th ($2309 vs $1079) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, respectively. Check the United Arab Emirates vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Dubai compared to 1.6 months in Johannesburg. Dubai ranked 1st best city to live in the United Arab Emirates vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 306th and 5446th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dubai vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Dubai vs Johannesburg

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

	Dubai	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.5	$9.91
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$70.2	$40.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.4	$5.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$12.1	$2.31
☕ Cappuccino	$6.12	$2.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.36	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1850	$405
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1170	$361
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3310	$781
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2171	$657
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$72.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$202	$111
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$86	$44.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.64%	11.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6006	$1096
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3452	$753
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.64	$1.89
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$84.2	$81.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.1	$10.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.77	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.49	$1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.15	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.24	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$10.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.27	$5.16
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$6.49
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$1.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.62
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.48
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.4
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.19	$1.51
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.2	$6.14
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.6	$1.36
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.98	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.18	$6.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.49	$4.18
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.95	$2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.85	$1.53
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$75.9	$33.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$7.67
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$88.8	$29.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.53	$6.42
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.6	$51.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.6	$91.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$779	$241
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12682	$5865

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dubai

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8 mi	Sharjah	$1503
22 km or 14 mi	Ajman	$2084
41 km or 25 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1768
104 km or 65 mi	Fujairah	$1232
108 km or 67 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1603
126 km or 78 mi	Al Ain	$1050
129 km or 80 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1802
234 km or 146 mi	Bandar Abbas	$728
246 km or 153 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1630
339 km or 211 mi	Seeb	$994
344 km or 214 mi	Nizwa	$786
380 km or 236 mi	Doha	$1810
380 km or 236 mi	Muscat	$1110
385 km or 239 mi	Al Khor	$1719
399 km or 248 mi	Jahrom	$561
440 km or 273 mi	Fasa	$556
449 km or 279 mi	Jiroft	$547
466 km or 290 mi	Sirjan	$520
485 km or 301 mi	Manama	$1267
486 km or 302 mi	Riffa	$1218
487 km or 303 mi	Isa Town	$1226
523 km or 325 mi	Bam	$531
528 km or 328 mi	Dhahran	$870
534 km or 332 mi	Chabahar	$687
537 km or 334 mi	Dammam	$989
554 km or 345 mi	Shiraz	$558
560 km or 348 mi	Qatif	$878
568 km or 353 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$783
568 km or 353 mi	Marvdasht	$546
574 km or 357 mi	Rafsanjan	$515
578 km or 359 mi	Iranshahr	$639
584 km or 363 mi	Kerman	$467
595 km or 370 mi	Jubail	$928
601 km or 373 mi	Borazjan	$541
603 km or 375 mi	Kazerun	$537
604 km or 375 mi	Bushehr	$548
703 km or 437 mi	Yasuj	$489
721 km or 448 mi	Zahedan	$831
743 km or 461 mi	Yazd	$577
773 km or 481 mi	Behbahan	$507

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$997
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$874
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$971
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$822
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$696
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$838
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$909
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$717
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$848
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$943
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$819
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$841
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$788
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$774
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$809
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$692
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$718
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$690
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$623
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$791
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$654
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$459
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$627
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$581
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$554
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$859
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$1003
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$600
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1116
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$834
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$585
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045