Helsinki vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Helsinki	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$993
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4167	$2403
🏠 One person rent	$918	$441
🏘️ Family rent	$1517	$809
🍽️ Food expenses	$580	$288
🚐 Transport expenses	$155	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3006	$1383
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	78	72
😀 Quality of life	95	57
🏙️ Population	676K	4.43M

The cost of living in Helsinki is 83% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 2353rd and 5539th ($1816 vs $993) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 4th in Finland and South Africa, respectively. Check Finland vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Helsinki compared to 1.4 months in Johannesburg. Helsinki ranked 1st best city to live in Finland vs Johannesburg ranked 2nd in South Africa, while ranked 26th and 5667th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Helsinki vs Johannesburg infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Helsinki vs Johannesburg

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

	Helsinki	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.7	$9.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$79.4	$37.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.29	$2.37
☕ Cappuccino	$4.73	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.88	$0.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$980	$377
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$796	$318
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1796	$790
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1297	$627
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.9	$71.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$99.4	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$20.8	$39.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.1%	11.55%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8076	$1031
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4860	$684
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.1	$1.62
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$70	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.3	$9.35
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.93	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.38	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.62	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.36
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.66	$2.58
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.1	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$5.04
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.5	$6.12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.98	$1.49
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.94	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$1.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.24	$0.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.88	$1.44
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15	$5.96
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.05	$1.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.1	$2.97
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$5.59
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.2	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.14	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45.2	$33.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.2	$7.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$79.4	$27.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.8	$5.55
👖 Brand Jeans	$97.3	$48.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.8	$88.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$345	$214
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9361	$5271

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Helsinki

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Vantaa	$1671
16 km or 9.7 mi	Espoo	$1879
26 km or 16 mi	Tuusula	$1509
27 km or 17 mi	Kerava	$1486
29 km or 18 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1509
33 km or 21 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1479
34 km or 21 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1533
47 km or 29 mi	Porvoo	$1327
49 km or 30 mi	Lohja	$1220
51 km or 32 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1323
63 km or 39 mi	Riihimaki	$1443
78 km or 48 mi	Maardu	$1219
83 km or 51 mi	Tallinn	$1414
86 km or 53 mi	Raseborg	$1441
96 km or 59 mi	Hameenlinna	$1309
98 km or 61 mi	Lahti	$1398
102 km or 63 mi	Salo	$1396
115 km or 72 mi	Kotka	$1286
122 km or 76 mi	Rakvere	$899
124 km or 77 mi	Kouvola	$1355
131 km or 81 mi	Valkeakoski	$1544
132 km or 82 mi	Hamina	$1329
143 km or 89 mi	Kaarina	$1450
150 km or 93 mi	Turku	$1495
156 km or 97 mi	Raisio	$1450
157 km or 98 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$973
160 km or 100 mi	Tampere	$1464
164 km or 102 mi	Nokia	$1432
169 km or 105 mi	Ylojarvi	$1426
170 km or 106 mi	Sastamala	$1391
181 km or 113 mi	Sillamae	$952
188 km or 117 mi	Jamsa	$1394
201 km or 125 mi	Parnu	$1064
203 km or 126 mi	Lappeenranta	$1295
203 km or 126 mi	Narva	$953
205 km or 127 mi	Viljandi	$933
210 km or 131 mi	Mikkeli	$1308
214 km or 133 mi	Rauma	$1254
224 km or 139 mi	Pori	$1239
224 km or 139 mi	Tartu	$1045

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