Guangzhou vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Guangzhou	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$774	$993
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2226	$2403
🏠 One person rent	$352	$441
🏘️ Family rent	$830	$809
🍽️ Food expenses	$266	$288
🚐 Transport expenses	$79	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1294	$1383
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	97	72
😀 Quality of life	75	57
🏙️ Population	18.7M	4.43M

The cost of living in Guangzhou is 22% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 6548th and 5539th ($774 vs $993) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 31st 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 1.7 months in Guangzhou compared to 1.4 months in Johannesburg. Guangzhou ranked 6th best city to live in China vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 1055th and 5667th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Guangzhou vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Guangzhou vs Johannesburg

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

	Guangzhou	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.42	$9.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$22.2	$37.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.78	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.95	$2.37
☕ Cappuccino	$3.14	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.49	$0.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$465	$377
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$263	$318
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1183	$790
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$655	$627
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.9	$71.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$58	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$11.1	$39.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.17%	11.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10125	$1031
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4029	$684
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.28	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$19.2	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.55	$9.35
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.13	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.09	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.36
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.56	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.44	$5.04
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$6.12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.97	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$1.49
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.85	$1.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.41	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.26	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$20.6	$5.96
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.9	$1.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.77	$2.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.18	$5.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.48	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.16	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.64	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.9	$33.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.72	$7.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.7	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.58	$5.55
👖 Brand Jeans	$39	$48.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$70	$88.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$408	$214
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14511	$5271

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Guangzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Foshan	$611
51 km or 32 mi	Dongguan	$656
63 km or 39 mi	Jiangmen	$804
65 km or 41 mi	Qingyuan	$794
67 km or 42 mi	Zhongshan	$461
83 km or 52 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
100 km or 62 mi	Zhuhai	$653
102 km or 63 mi	Kaiping	$812
105 km or 65 mi	Shenzhen	$916
111 km or 69 mi	Macau	$1588
118 km or 73 mi	Huizhou	$601
127 km or 79 mi	Yunfu	$823
131 km or 81 mi	Kowloon	$2432
132 km or 82 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
162 km or 100 mi	Heyuan	$764
189 km or 117 mi	Shaoguan	$818
194 km or 121 mi	Yangjiang	$877
202 km or 126 mi	Wuzhou	$803
205 km or 127 mi	Lianzhou	$755
216 km or 134 mi	Shanwei	$936
225 km or 140 mi	Hezhou	$758
281 km or 175 mi	Gaozhou	$761
291 km or 181 mi	Maoming	$756
298 km or 185 mi	Chenzhou	$724
298 km or 185 mi	Puning	$569
319 km or 198 mi	Meizhou	$655
321 km or 199 mi	Jieyang	$443
323 km or 201 mi	Yulin	$771
345 km or 214 mi	Ganzhou	$761
349 km or 217 mi	Chaozhou	$451
352 km or 219 mi	Shantou	$581
364 km or 226 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
373 km or 232 mi	Guigang	$702
384 km or 239 mi	Guilin	$522
406 km or 252 mi	Yongzhou	$609
414 km or 257 mi	Liuzhou	$579
416 km or 259 mi	Laibin	$598
424 km or 264 mi	Hengyang	$590
440 km or 273 mi	Longyan	$649
460 km or 286 mi	Haikou	$650

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$953
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$837
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$923
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$785
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$678
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$807
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$906
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$672
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$820
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$889
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$784
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$795
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$768
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$748
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$780
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$665
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$691
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$664
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$562
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$763
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$628
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$442
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$621
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$567
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$540
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$814
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$964
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$583
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1068
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$809
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$624
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003