Islamabad vs Johannesburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Islamabad	Johannesburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$443	$1082
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1034	$2560
🏠 One person rent	$199	$485
🏘️ Family rent	$328	$833
🍽️ Food expenses	$158	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.5	$206
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$155	$1614
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	26 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	69	74
😀 Quality of life	50	62
🏙️ Population	1.01M	4.43M

The cost of living in Islamabad is 59% less expensive than in Johannesburg. Cities ranked 8887th and 5031st ($443 vs $1082) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Pakistan and South Africa, respectively. Check Pakistan vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Islamabad compared to 1.5 months in Johannesburg. Islamabad ranked 3rd best city to live in Pakistan vs Johannesburg ranked 1st in South Africa, while ranked 6597th and 5648th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Islamabad vs Johannesburg infographic

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Prices in Islamabad vs Johannesburg

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

	Islamabad	Johannesburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.83	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$14.2	$38.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.36	$2.51
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$2.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.38	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$187	$462
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$98.8	$342
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$338	$824
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$178	$632
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$65.4	$78.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$101	$122
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$17.5	$40.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.73%	11.57%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1311	$1106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$775	$741
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$2.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.39	$77.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.05	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.69	$1.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.44
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.22	$2.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.37	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.1	$5.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.46	$7.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.82	$1.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.38	$1.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$1.6
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.26	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.76	$1.53
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.75	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.72	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.13	$3.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.17	$5.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.64	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.15	$1.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$1.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$20.4	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.22	$7.33
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$11	$29.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$1.86	$6.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$21.6	$52.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$80.7	$93.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$61.1	$227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2738	$5503

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Islamabad

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
33 km or 20 mi	Wah	$344
91 km or 57 mi	Mirpur	$277
108 km or 67 mi	Mardan	$354
131 km or 82 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
132 km or 82 mi	Baramulla	$265
135 km or 84 mi	Mingora	$351
146 km or 91 mi	Peshawar	$334
148 km or 92 mi	Kohat	$364
158 km or 98 mi	Gujrat	$320
169 km or 105 mi	Srinagar	$340
183 km or 114 mi	Sargodha	$376
191 km or 119 mi	Hafizabad	$363
193 km or 120 mi	Sialkot	$311
200 km or 124 mi	Jammu	$284
203 km or 126 mi	Gujranwala	$302
220 km or 137 mi	Chiniot	$372
222 km or 138 mi	Kamoke	$316
239 km or 148 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
252 km or 156 mi	Jalalabad	$354
254 km or 158 mi	Faisalabad	$333
268 km or 167 mi	Lahore	$427
279 km or 173 mi	Jhang	$294
285 km or 177 mi	Gojra	$351
287 km or 178 mi	Amritsar	$380
287 km or 179 mi	Sahiwal	$303
291 km or 181 mi	Pathankot	$350
292 km or 182 mi	Khost	$393
324 km or 201 mi	Okara	$291
353 km or 219 mi	Gardez	$401
356 km or 221 mi	Jalandhar	$337
368 km or 229 mi	Kabul	$458
392 km or 244 mi	Khanewal	$362
396 km or 246 mi	Burewala	$347
408 km or 253 mi	Ludhiana	$421
418 km or 260 mi	Multan	$403
427 km or 266 mi	Ghazni	$396
465 km or 289 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
468 km or 291 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
483 km or 300 mi	Chandigarh	$373

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