Johannesburg vs Karaj - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Karaj
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$704
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$1577
🏠 One person rent	$485	$399
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$634
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$172
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$34.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$246
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	74	76
😀 Quality of life	62	61
🏙️ Population	4.43M	1.59M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 54% more expensive than in Karaj. Cities ranked 5031st and 7072nd ($1082 vs $704) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 5th in South Africa and Iran, respectively. Check South Africa vs Iran comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.3 months in Karaj. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Karaj ranked 2nd in Iran, while ranked 5648th and 5808th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Karaj infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Karaj

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

	Johannesburg	Karaj
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$3.94
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$17.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$4.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$0.7
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$1.2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$331
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$398
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$587
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$622
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$8.54
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$13.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$5.94
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	22.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$1256
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$541
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$13
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$2.68
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$0.65
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$0.62
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$0.5
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.93
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$1.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$3.74
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$3.08
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$10.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$0.86
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$1.5
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.48
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.43
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.13
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$0.75
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$0.75
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$0.47
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$2.59
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$4.89
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$4.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$2.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.3
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$22.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$1.51
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$92.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$7.93
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$25.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$98.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$836

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 Karaj

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Mohammadshahr	$642
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Kamal Shahr	$644
10 km or 6.5 mi	Fardis	$640
13 km or 8.3 mi	Andisheh	$637
17 km or 10 mi	Qods	$638
17 km or 10 mi	Malard	$641
19 km or 12 mi	Shahriar	$635
33 km or 21 mi	Nasimshahr	$624
36 km or 22 mi	Nazarabad	$598
38 km or 24 mi	Eslamshahr	$623
38 km or 24 mi	Robat Karim	$611
43 km or 26 mi	Tehran	$684
46 km or 28 mi	Golestan	$628
50 km or 31 mi	Ray	$622
69 km or 43 mi	Qarchak	$607
74 km or 46 mi	Pakdasht	$604
77 km or 48 mi	Pardis	$598
79 km or 49 mi	Khak-e Ali	$561
87 km or 54 mi	Varamin	$588
100 km or 62 mi	Qazvin	$582
104 km or 65 mi	Saveh	$503
130 km or 81 mi	Qom	$448
144 km or 90 mi	Amol	$530
174 km or 108 mi	Babol	$372
177 km or 110 mi	Lahijan	$497
185 km or 115 mi	Qaem Shahr	$501
204 km or 127 mi	Rasht	$472
205 km or 128 mi	Sari	$643
208 km or 129 mi	Kashan	$515
220 km or 137 mi	Semnan	$542
225 km or 140 mi	Arak	$538
242 km or 150 mi	Zanjan	$426
249 km or 155 mi	Hamadan	$430
259 km or 161 mi	Malayer	$457
294 km or 183 mi	Borujerd	$494
311 km or 193 mi	Dorud	$508
333 km or 207 mi	Shahin Shahr	$484
334 km or 208 mi	Gorgan	$658
350 km or 218 mi	Khomeyni Shahr	$488
354 km or 220 mi	Khorramabad	$540