Indianapolis vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Indianapolis	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2405	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5527	$2788
🏠 One person rent	$1478	$547
🏘️ Family rent	$2331	$919
🍽️ Food expenses	$647	$351
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$210
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4390	$420
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	70	73
😀 Quality of life	89	60
🏙️ Population	888K	4.8M

The cost of living in Indianapolis is 100% more expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 1079th and 4745th ($2405 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 928th and 4th in the United States and South Africa, respectively. Check the United States vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Indianapolis compared to 0.3 months in Johannesburg. Indianapolis ranked 63rd best city to live in the United States vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 237th and 5850th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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

Prices in Indianapolis vs Johannesburg

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

	Indianapolis	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$20.1	$12.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$74.1	$46
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.5	$6.16
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.99	$2.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5.76	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.22	$1.2
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1535	$473
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1207	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2597	$862
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1915	$679
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$216	$164
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$63.9	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.15%	10.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2599	$1060
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1872	$777
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.74	$1.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$60.4	$92.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.7	$8.38
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.89	$1.42
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.84	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.07	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.75	$1.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.89	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$8.99
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$5.77
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$9.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.22	$2.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.86	$1.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$2.07
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.88	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.65	$0.86
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.77	$1.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.5	$6.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2	$1.89
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.3	$3.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.27	$5.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6	$4.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.27	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.93	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.2	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.9	$8.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$102	$31
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$7.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$57	$57.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1743	$244
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24177	$5103

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Indianapolis

Distance	City	Cost of living
17 km or 11 mi	Lawrence	$2088
18 km or 11 mi	Greenwood	$1968
22 km or 14 mi	Plainfield	$2060
22 km or 14 mi	Brownsburg	$1919
23 km or 14 mi	Carmel	$2065
24 km or 15 mi	Fishers	$2035
29 km or 18 mi	Westfield	$2018
32 km or 20 mi	Franklin	$2045
33 km or 21 mi	Greenfield	$1860
33 km or 21 mi	Noblesville	$1974
55 km or 34 mi	Anderson	$1706
65 km or 41 mi	Columbus	$1813
75 km or 46 mi	Bloomington	$2100
79 km or 49 mi	Kokomo	$1722
81 km or 50 mi	Muncie	$1508
95 km or 59 mi	Lafayette	$2006
96 km or 60 mi	Marion	$1868
99 km or 61 mi	West Lafayette	$1913
108 km or 67 mi	Richmond	$1877
111 km or 69 mi	Terre Haute	$1575
124 km or 77 mi	Oxford	$1913
132 km or 82 mi	Danville	$1967
143 km or 89 mi	Hamilton	$1984
147 km or 91 mi	Fairfield	$2002
155 km or 97 mi	Middletown	$1617
156 km or 97 mi	Florence	$1942
159 km or 99 mi	Cincinnati	$2051
160 km or 99 mi	Trotwood	$1933
162 km or 101 mi	Covington	$2392
165 km or 102 mi	Mason	$1900
165 km or 103 mi	Clarksville	$1827
166 km or 103 mi	Independence	$2126
166 km or 103 mi	New Albany	$1897
167 km or 104 mi	Dayton	$1898
168 km or 104 mi	Jeffersonville	$1746
168 km or 104 mi	Piqua	$1836
169 km or 105 mi	Troy	$1855
169 km or 105 mi	Fort Wayne	$1894
171 km or 106 mi	Lebanon	$1843
172 km or 107 mi	Kettering	$1908

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$1104
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$912
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1031
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$851
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$784
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$997
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1015
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$742
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$994
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$902
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$875
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$872
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$811
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$903
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$691
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$723
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$691
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$607
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$882
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$663
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$494
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$660
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$611
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$549
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$904
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$912
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$590
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1014
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$938
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$632
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$965