Johannesburg vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Johannesburg	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1204	$453
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2788	$1141
🏠 One person rent	$547	$189
🏘️ Family rent	$919	$310
🍽️ Food expenses	$351	$170
🚐 Transport expenses	$210	$32.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$420	$216
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	73	55
😀 Quality of life	60	47
🏙️ Population	4.8M	2.11M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 166% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 4745th and 8852nd ($1204 vs $453) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 44th in South Africa and Indonesia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Medan ranked 15th in Indonesia, while ranked 5850th and 6943rd 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 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	$12.2	$1.64
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46	$10.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.16	$3.06
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$2.01
☕ Cappuccino	$2.41	$1.7
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$473	$173
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$109
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$862	$311
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$679	$196
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$164	$67.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$24
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.88%	9.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1060	$1152
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$777	$558
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.85	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$92.2	$6.85
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.38	$2.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$0.7
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$1.11
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$0.89
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$1.32
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.99	$6.98
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$6.36
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$2.44
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.03
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$0.85
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$0.8
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.62
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.3
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.58	$1.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.1	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.89	$1.81
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.4	$2.56
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.66	$1.79
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.33	$2.16
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$0.74
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$0.7
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.8	$17.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.59	$3.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31	$13.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.27	$2.48
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.1	$47.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$96.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$244	$114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5103	$7769

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 Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$449
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$439
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$555
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$530
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$762
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$720
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$677
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$527
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$743
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$616
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$741
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$545
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$798
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$654
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$610
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$592
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$617
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$488
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$588
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$707
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$466
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$759
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$1010
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$784
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$836
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$737
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$576
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550