Harare vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Harare	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$992	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2589	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$411	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$862	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$345	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$415	$1598
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	37	63
😀 Quality of life	45	38
🏙️ Population	2.15M	1.27M

The cost of living in Harare is 8% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 5540th and 5917th ($992 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th 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 1.7 months in Soweto. Harare ranked 1st best city to live in Zimbabwe vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 6578th and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Harare vs Soweto infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/harare/soweto.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Harare vs Soweto infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/harare/soweto" target="_blank">Harare vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Harare vs Soweto

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

	Harare	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$50	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.03	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$3.07	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.69	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$341	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$243	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$919	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$638	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$35.5	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.7	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$113	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.13%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1327	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$547	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$30.1	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.1	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.58	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.21	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.69	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.57	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.95	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.26	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.02	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.21	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.94	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.01	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.7	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.1	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.98	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.13	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.5	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$35.2	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$247	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6241	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Harare

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
66 km or 41 mi	Marondera	$794
105 km or 65 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
133 km or 83 mi	Kadoma	$723
165 km or 103 mi	Kwekwe	$730
213 km or 132 mi	Mutare	$752
223 km or 138 mi	Gweru	$597
251 km or 156 mi	Masvingo	$854
291 km or 181 mi	Chimoio	$947
328 km or 204 mi	Tete	$825
369 km or 229 mi	Bulawayo	$766
399 km or 248 mi	Lusaka	$738
447 km or 278 mi	Choma	$700
458 km or 284 mi	Beira	$1003
478 km or 297 mi	Blantyre	$507
498 km or 309 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
510 km or 317 mi	Ntcheu	$492
514 km or 319 mi	Mulanje	$461
518 km or 322 mi	Lilongwe	$587
525 km or 326 mi	Francistown	$624
531 km or 330 mi	Zomba	$457
549 km or 341 mi	Livingstone	$688
584 km or 363 mi	Mangochi	$493
588 km or 365 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
599 km or 372 mi	Ndola	$541
618 km or 384 mi	Quelimane	$675
635 km or 394 mi	Kitwe	$917
659 km or 409 mi	Mufulira	$1018
665 km or 413 mi	Palapye	$540
679 km or 422 mi	Serowe	$583
680 km or 422 mi	Chingola	$875
714 km or 444 mi	Mzimba	$566
734 km or 456 mi	Mahalapye	$631
775 km or 482 mi	Mansa	$776
778 km or 484 mi	Mzuzu	$525
786 km or 489 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
847 km or 526 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003
847 km or 526 mi	Kasama	$748
892 km or 554 mi	Likasi	$961
898 km or 558 mi	Middelburg	$795

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$993
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$837
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$953
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$672
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$785
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$807
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$678
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$906
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$820
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$889
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$784
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$768
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$795
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$748
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$780
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$665
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$691
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$664
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$628
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$562
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$763
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$621
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$442
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$567
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$814
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$540
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$583
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$964
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1068
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$809
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$624
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003