Johannesburg vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$474
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$1052
🏠 One person rent	$441	$203
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$302
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$158
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$81.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$218
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	72	30
😀 Quality of life	57	14
🏙️ Population	4.43M	4.27M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 109% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 5539th and 8769th ($993 vs $474) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 3rd in South Africa and Afghanistan, respectively. Check South Africa vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.5 months in Kabul. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 5667th and 9071st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Kabul infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Kabul

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

	Johannesburg	Kabul
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$2.38
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$9.34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$4.64
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$3.11
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$1.53
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$0.32
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$140
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$90
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$312
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$141
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$66.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$59.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	18.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$404
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$202
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$0.2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$18.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$7.27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$0.88
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$0.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$4.36
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$3.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$5.88
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$0.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$0.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$0.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.41
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.2
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$0.88
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$8.12
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.49
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$2.38
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$2.97
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$3.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$1.01
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$1.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$2.15
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$13.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$2.79
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$16.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$34.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$17.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$1356

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$386
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$303
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$389
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$366
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$346
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$394
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$366
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$364
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$408
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$382
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$442
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$596
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$414
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$458
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$593
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$605
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$354
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$468
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$389
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$273
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$342
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$306
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$373
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$354
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$266
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$392
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$305
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$361
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$281
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$321
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$476