Johannesburg vs Karachi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Karachi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$430
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$1029
🏠 One person rent	$485	$168
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$274
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$146
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$71.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$132
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	74	63
😀 Quality of life	62	54
🏙️ Population	4.43M	14.9M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 152% more expensive than in Karachi. Cities ranked 5031st and 8915th ($1082 vs $430) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in South Africa and Pakistan, respectively. Check South Africa vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 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 5648th and 6371st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Karachi infographic

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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	$10.1	$1.75
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$12.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$4.41
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$2.05
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.39
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$115
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$71.8
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$204
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$133
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$75.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$115
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$12.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	16.46%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$579
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$371
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.32
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$8.76
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$6.37
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$0.92
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$0.81
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$0.57
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$1.13
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$6.72
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$3.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$5.37
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.09
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.38
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.27
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$0.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$1.24
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$1.27
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$2.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$1.76
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$3.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$1.35
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$15.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$4.27
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$11.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$1.95
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$18.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$63.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$67.6
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$1491

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 Karachi

Distance	City	Cost of living
148 km or 92 mi	Hyderabad	$382
208 km or 129 mi	Nawabshah	$324
213 km or 132 mi	Mirpur Khas	$395
324 km or 201 mi	Larkana	$336
324 km or 201 mi	Bhuj	$290
366 km or 227 mi	Sukkur	$340
406 km or 252 mi	Jacobabad	$322
445 km or 277 mi	Porbandar	$330
480 km or 298 mi	Rajkot	$324
564 km or 351 mi	Mehsana	$382
593 km or 368 mi	Quetta	$291
601 km or 374 mi	Ahmedabad	$442
604 km or 375 mi	Gandhinagar	$407
626 km or 389 mi	Bhavnagar	$291
629 km or 391 mi	Jodhpur	$322
643 km or 399 mi	Pali	$305
643 km or 399 mi	Nadiad	$375
645 km or 401 mi	Chabahar	$573
675 km or 419 mi	Udaipur	$315
679 km or 422 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
683 km or 425 mi	Bahawalpur	$301
683 km or 425 mi	Iranshahr	$624
692 km or 430 mi	Vadodara	$374
711 km or 442 mi	Godhra	$366
719 km or 447 mi	Bikaner	$290
723 km or 449 mi	Surat	$705
736 km or 457 mi	Multan	$403
745 km or 463 mi	Navsari	$278
761 km or 473 mi	Kandahar	$436
769 km or 478 mi	Bhilwara	$328
775 km or 482 mi	Khanewal	$362
785 km or 488 mi	Ajmer	$274
792 km or 492 mi	Lashkargah	$439
796 km or 494 mi	Zahedan	$808
812 km or 504 mi	Burewala	$347
836 km or 519 mi	Ratlam	$303
845 km or 525 mi	Vasai	$267
865 km or 537 mi	Muscat	$1081
866 km or 538 mi	Sikar	$335
874 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$558