Johannesburg vs Mecca - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Mecca
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$979
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$2659
🏠 One person rent	$441	$371
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$905
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$220
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$1646
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	68 km
🎓 Higher education	72	42
😀 Quality of life	57	54
🏙️ Population	4.43M	2.43M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 1% more expensive than in Mecca. Cities ranked 5539th and 5632nd ($993 vs $979) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 8th in South Africa and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.7 months in Mecca. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Mecca ranked 9th in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 5667th and 5982nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Mecca infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/johannesburg/mecca.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Mecca infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/johannesburg/mecca" target="_blank">Johannesburg vs Mecca - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Johannesburg vs Mecca

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

	Johannesburg	Mecca
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$4.96
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$36.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$7.05
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$1.61
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$3.31
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$0.74
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$260
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$263
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$743
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$783
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$38.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$59.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$70.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	4.62%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$1496
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$1212
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$1.32
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$101
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$18.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$0.5
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.48
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$0.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.59
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$2.67
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$6.82
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$7.22
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$12.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$2.06
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.58
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.57
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.18
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.37
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$3.88
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$5.6
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$5.21
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$3.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$2.08
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$1.45
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$103
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$14.4
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$26.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$4.18
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$32.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$62.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$398
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$4682

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$953
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$837
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$923
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$785
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$678
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$807
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$906
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$672
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$820
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$889
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$784
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$795
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$768
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$748
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$780
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$665
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$691
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$664
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$562
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$763
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$628
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$442
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$621
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$567
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$540
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$814
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$964
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$583
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1068
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$809
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$624
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003

Cities near Mecca

Distance	City	Cost of living
69 km or 43 mi	Jeddah	$1146
329 km or 204 mi	Bisha	$905
338 km or 210 mi	Port Sudan	$1003
339 km or 211 mi	Medina	$1215
350 km or 218 mi	Yanbu	$829
354 km or 220 mi	Bareq	$902
453 km or 282 mi	Abha	$910
606 km or 377 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
620 km or 385 mi	Ar Rass	$861
628 km or 390 mi	Najran	$937
642 km or 399 mi	Al Wajh	$961
644 km or 400 mi	Keren	$488
648 km or 403 mi	Sa'dah	$482
649 km or 403 mi	Massawa	$486
670 km or 416 mi	Unaizah	$969
684 km or 425 mi	Asmara	$520
703 km or 437 mi	Ha'il	$846
735 km or 457 mi	Mendefera	$487
738 km or 458 mi	Atbara	$1131
756 km or 470 mi	Kassala	$1006
769 km or 478 mi	Aswan	$329
790 km or 491 mi	Riyadh	$1637
807 km or 501 mi	Al Hudaydah	$505
818 km or 508 mi	Sanaa	$546
842 km or 523 mi	Sayyan	$481
842 km or 523 mi	Tabuk	$1078
873 km or 542 mi	Luxor	$335
884 km or 549 mi	Mekelle	$662
884 km or 549 mi	Zabid	$482
890 km or 553 mi	Hurghada	$342
895 km or 556 mi	Qena	$362
904 km or 562 mi	Dhamar	$486
909 km or 565 mi	El Gouna	$336
912 km or 567 mi	Sharm El Sheikh	$464
933 km or 580 mi	Dumat al-Jandal	$798
947 km or 588 mi	El-Gadarif	$943
948 km or 589 mi	Ibb	$496
951 km or 591 mi	Sakakah	$781
951 km or 591 mi	Dahab	$381
979 km or 608 mi	Taiz	$507