Harare vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Harare	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1021	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2475	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$408	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$649	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$352	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$188	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$230	$1614
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	37	74
😀 Quality of life	49	62
🏙️ Population	2.15M	4.43M

The cost of living in Harare is 6% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 5412th and 5031st ($1021 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Zimbabwe and South Africa, respectively. Check Zimbabwe vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Harare compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Harare ranked 1st best city to live in Zimbabwe vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 6721st and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Harare vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Harare vs Johannesburg

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

	Harare	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.6	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.96	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.93	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.69	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$366	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$257	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$662	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$459	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$36.4	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$93.2	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.05%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1147	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$587	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.99	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$54.9	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.1	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.58	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.13	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.83	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.92	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.68	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.26	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.03	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.34	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.09	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.99	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.67	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.6	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.7	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.1	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.17	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.3	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.3	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$258	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8872	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Harare

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
66 km or 41 mi	Marondera	$779
105 km or 65 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
133 km or 83 mi	Kadoma	$761
165 km or 103 mi	Kwekwe	$716
213 km or 132 mi	Mutare	$755
223 km or 138 mi	Gweru	$587
251 km or 156 mi	Masvingo	$873
291 km or 181 mi	Chimoio	$916
328 km or 204 mi	Tete	$820
369 km or 229 mi	Bulawayo	$658
399 km or 248 mi	Lusaka	$655
447 km or 278 mi	Choma	$687
458 km or 284 mi	Beira	$996
478 km or 297 mi	Blantyre	$506
498 km or 309 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
510 km or 317 mi	Ntcheu	$493
514 km or 319 mi	Mulanje	$461
518 km or 322 mi	Lilongwe	$592
525 km or 326 mi	Francistown	$587
531 km or 330 mi	Zomba	$458
549 km or 341 mi	Livingstone	$653
584 km or 363 mi	Mangochi	$496
588 km or 365 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
599 km or 372 mi	Ndola	$577
618 km or 384 mi	Quelimane	$692
635 km or 394 mi	Kitwe	$1062
659 km or 409 mi	Mufulira	$1278
665 km or 413 mi	Palapye	$514
679 km or 422 mi	Serowe	$536
680 km or 422 mi	Chingola	$1069
714 km or 444 mi	Mzimba	$565
734 km or 456 mi	Mahalapye	$577
775 km or 482 mi	Mansa	$912
778 km or 484 mi	Mzuzu	$527
786 km or 489 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
847 km or 526 mi	Xai-Xai	$915
847 km or 526 mi	Kasama	$888
892 km or 554 mi	Likasi	$1032
898 km or 558 mi	Middelburg	$830

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