Johannesburg vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Johannesburg	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1079	$519
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2553	$1426
🏠 One person rent	$487	$204
🏘️ Family rent	$837	$428
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$191
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$44.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1695	$315
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	72	52
😀 Quality of life	58	43
🏙️ Population	4.43M	2.11M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 108% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 5069th and 8536th ($1079 vs $519) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 38th in South Africa and Indonesia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.6 months in Medan. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Medan ranked 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 5446th and 6659th 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 Medan infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Medan

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

	Johannesburg	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.91	$2.65
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.5	$11.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$3.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$3.02
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$1.84
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$190
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$116
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$781	$456
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$657	$302
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.2	$42.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$65
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.3	$29.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.54%	10.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1096	$1907
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$753	$661
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.89	$0.33
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.8	$9.09
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.6	$4.27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$0.84
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$1.42
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$1.26
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.66	$1.61
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$4.71
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$3.09
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.49	$7.21
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.88
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.04
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.55
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.01
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$0.8
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.25
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$1.21
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.14	$19.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.36	$1.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$2.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$2.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$2.62
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2	$0.89
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$0.83
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.1	$29.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.67	$3.4
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.8	$15.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$2.98
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$60.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$125
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$241	$85.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5865	$11482

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	$997
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$874
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$971
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$822
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$696
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$838
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$909
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$717
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$848
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$943
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$819
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$841
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$788
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$774
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$809
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$692
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$718
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$690
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$623
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$791
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$654
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$459
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$627
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$581
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$554
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$859
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$1003
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$600
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1116
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$834
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$585
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$503
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$504
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$518
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$490
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$538
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$461
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$673
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$759
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$624
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$669
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$671
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$670
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$613
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$729
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$742
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$594
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$687
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$523
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$732
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$738
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$892
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$617
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$571
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$563
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$630
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$585
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$561
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$421
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$699
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$799
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$590
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$752
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$985
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$822
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$807
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$750
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$518
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$544