Harare vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Harare	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1012	$1079
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2579	$2553
🏠 One person rent	$427	$487
🏘️ Family rent	$819	$837
🍽️ Food expenses	$336	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$175	$204
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$381	$1695
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	37	72
😀 Quality of life	43	58
🏙️ Population	2.15M	4.43M

The cost of living in Harare is 6% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 5611th and 5069th ($1012 vs $1079) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in Zimbabwe and South Africa, respectively. Check Zimbabwe vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Harare compared to 1.6 months in Johannesburg. Harare ranked 1st best city to live in Zimbabwe vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 6695th and 5446th 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	$8.03	$9.91
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$40.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.5	$5.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.99	$2.31
☕ Cappuccino	$3.09	$2.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.77	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$326	$405
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$254	$361
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$900	$781
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$576	$657
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.3	$72.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.3	$111
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$124	$44.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.99%	11.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1328	$1096
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1332	$753
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.99	$1.89
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.5	$81.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.2	$10.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.61	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.18	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.1	$10.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$5.16
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.44	$6.49
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.02	$1.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.62
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.48
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.4
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.61	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.23	$1.51
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7	$6.14
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$1.36
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.24	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.93	$6.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6	$4.18
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.67	$2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.6	$1.53
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$61.9	$33.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10	$7.67
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.2	$29.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.18	$6.42
👖 Brand Jeans	$18.2	$51.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.9	$91.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$249	$241
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8755	$5865

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	$890
66 km or 41 mi	Marondera	$810
105 km or 65 mi	Chinhoyi	$830
133 km or 83 mi	Kadoma	$729
165 km or 103 mi	Kwekwe	$731
213 km or 132 mi	Mutare	$662
223 km or 138 mi	Gweru	$761
251 km or 156 mi	Masvingo	$871
291 km or 181 mi	Chimoio	$953
328 km or 204 mi	Tete	$834
369 km or 229 mi	Bulawayo	$756
399 km or 248 mi	Lusaka	$685
447 km or 278 mi	Choma	$725
458 km or 284 mi	Beira	$1000
478 km or 297 mi	Blantyre	$591
498 km or 309 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$894
510 km or 317 mi	Ntcheu	$515
514 km or 319 mi	Mulanje	$500
518 km or 322 mi	Lilongwe	$582
525 km or 326 mi	Francistown	$585
531 km or 330 mi	Zomba	$498
549 km or 341 mi	Livingstone	$670
584 km or 363 mi	Mangochi	$516
588 km or 365 mi	Monkey Bay	$526
599 km or 372 mi	Ndola	$1139
618 km or 384 mi	Quelimane	$670
635 km or 394 mi	Kitwe	$1116
659 km or 409 mi	Mufulira	$1090
665 km or 413 mi	Palapye	$554
679 km or 422 mi	Serowe	$600
680 km or 422 mi	Chingola	$1028
714 km or 444 mi	Mzimba	$574
734 km or 456 mi	Mahalapye	$663
775 km or 482 mi	Mansa	$1017
778 km or 484 mi	Mzuzu	$534
786 km or 489 mi	Lubumbashi	$1007
847 km or 526 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045
847 km or 526 mi	Kasama	$1079
892 km or 554 mi	Likasi	$939
898 km or 558 mi	Middelburg	$841

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