Johannesburg vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Johannesburg	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1204	$504
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2788	$1114
🏠 One person rent	$547	$211
🏘️ Family rent	$919	$298
🍽️ Food expenses	$351	$177
🚐 Transport expenses	$210	$78.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$420	$146
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	73	33
😀 Quality of life	60	26
🏙️ Population	4.8M	5.33M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 139% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 4745th and 8650th ($1204 vs $504) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in South Africa and Afghanistan, respectively. Check South Africa vs Afghanistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.3 months in Kabul. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 5850th and 8929th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$12.2	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46	$8.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.16	$5.85
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$3.24
☕ Cappuccino	$2.41	$1.6
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$473	$126
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$83.1
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$862	$223
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$679	$145
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$31.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$164	$49.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$88.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.88%	12.73%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1060	$664
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$777	$346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.85	$0.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$92.2	$14.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.38	$6.58
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.03
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$0.96
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$0.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.55
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$1.61
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.99	$5.34
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$4.61
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$6.58
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$0.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$0.88
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$0.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$0.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.48
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.26
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.58	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.1	$2.37
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.89	$1.01
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.4	$2.78
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.66	$3.49
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.33	$4.19
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$1.61
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.8	$13.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.59	$2.54
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31	$14.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.27	$3.29
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.1	$17.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$45.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$244	$20.9
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5103	$1302

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$456
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$381
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$447
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$438
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$447
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$321
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$394
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$468
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$373
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$373
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$493
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$371
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$496
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$734
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$446
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$470
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$391
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$737
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$773
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$280
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$350
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$473
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$306
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$393
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$253
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$379
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$382
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$359
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$335
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$278
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$344
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$303
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$440
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$339
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$309
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$401
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$313
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$396
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$332
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$469