Johannesburg vs Karachi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Johannesburg	Karachi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1204	$421
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2788	$1023
🏠 One person rent	$547	$146
🏘️ Family rent	$919	$237
🍽️ Food expenses	$351	$158
🚐 Transport expenses	$210	$74.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$420	$142
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	73	63
😀 Quality of life	60	54
🏙️ Population	4.8M	14.9M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 186% more expensive than in Karachi. Cities ranked 4745th and 8923rd ($1204 vs $421) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 5th in South Africa and Pakistan, respectively. Check South Africa vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.3 months in Karachi. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Karachi ranked 1st in Pakistan, while ranked 5850th and 6375th 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 Karachi

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

	Johannesburg	Karachi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.2	$1.81
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46	$14.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.16	$5.41
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$2.12
☕ Cappuccino	$2.41	$2.38
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.35
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$473	$106
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$65.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$862	$194
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$679	$117
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$59.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$164	$91.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.88%	13.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1060	$751
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$777	$469
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.85	$0.29
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$92.2	$8.06
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.38	$6.48
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$0.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$1.24
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.99	$6.46
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$3.14
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$5.97
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.21
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$0.63
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.07
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$0.51
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$0.34
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.28
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.58	$0.81
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.1	$1.26
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.89	$1.44
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.4	$1.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.66	$1.77
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.33	$3.62
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$1.57
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$0.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.8	$19.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.59	$4.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31	$11.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.27	$2.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.1	$16.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$57.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$244	$63.4
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5103	$1476

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 Karachi

Distance	City	Cost of living
148 km or 92 mi	Hyderabad	$355
208 km or 129 mi	Nawabshah	$320
213 km or 132 mi	Mirpur Khas	$385
324 km or 201 mi	Larkana	$342
324 km or 201 mi	Bhuj	$273
366 km or 227 mi	Sukkur	$352
406 km or 252 mi	Jacobabad	$337
445 km or 277 mi	Porbandar	$312
480 km or 298 mi	Rajkot	$298
564 km or 351 mi	Mehsana	$367
593 km or 368 mi	Quetta	$303
601 km or 374 mi	Ahmedabad	$433
604 km or 375 mi	Gandhinagar	$391
626 km or 389 mi	Bhavnagar	$273
629 km or 391 mi	Jodhpur	$312
643 km or 399 mi	Pali	$299
643 km or 399 mi	Nadiad	$360
645 km or 401 mi	Chabahar	$530
675 km or 419 mi	Udaipur	$314
679 km or 422 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$278
683 km or 425 mi	Bahawalpur	$310
683 km or 425 mi	Iranshahr	$559
692 km or 430 mi	Vadodara	$358
711 km or 442 mi	Godhra	$350
719 km or 447 mi	Bikaner	$279
723 km or 449 mi	Surat	$663
736 km or 457 mi	Multan	$440
745 km or 463 mi	Navsari	$267
761 km or 473 mi	Kandahar	$473
769 km or 478 mi	Bhilwara	$316
775 km or 482 mi	Khanewal	$401
785 km or 488 mi	Ajmer	$260
792 km or 492 mi	Lashkargah	$469
796 km or 494 mi	Zahedan	$717
812 km or 504 mi	Burewala	$350
836 km or 519 mi	Ratlam	$283
845 km or 525 mi	Vasai	$252
865 km or 537 mi	Muscat	$1193
866 km or 538 mi	Sikar	$311
874 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$525