Johannesburg vs Kabul - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Kabul
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$458
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$1016
🏠 One person rent	$485	$195
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$267
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$153
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$76.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$104
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	74	30
😀 Quality of life	62	33
🏙️ Population	4.43M	4.27M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 136% more expensive than in Kabul. Cities ranked 5031st and 8842nd ($1082 vs $458) 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 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.2 months in Kabul. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Kabul ranked 1st in Afghanistan, while ranked 5648th and 8609th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$10.1	$2.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$11.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$4.48
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$2.4
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$1.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$93.7
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$62.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$172
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$111
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$30.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$48.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$95.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	12.06%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$505
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$260
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.22
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$10.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$7.78
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$0.8
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$0.22
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.9
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$1.47
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$4.11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$3.55
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$6.13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$0.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.45
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.24
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$0.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$1.81
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$0.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$3.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$3.88
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$1.12
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.52
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$10.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$2.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$15.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$3.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$18
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$34.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$19.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$1486

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	$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

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$401
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$354
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$396
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$393
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$334
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$364
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$428
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$354
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$351
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$344
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$443
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$432
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$376
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$712
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$277
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$436
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$294
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$372
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$265
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$351
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$363
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$333
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$320
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$340
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$291
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$403
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$303
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$302
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$362
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$311
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$316
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$439