Johannesburg vs Medellin - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Medellin
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$906
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$2260
🏠 One person rent	$441	$408
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$761
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$275
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$133
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$432
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	72	66
😀 Quality of life	57	53
🏙️ Population	4.43M	2.53M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 10% more expensive than in Medellin. Cities ranked 5539th and 6005th ($993 vs $906) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in South Africa and Colombia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Colombia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.5 months in Medellin. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Medellin ranked 2nd in Colombia, while ranked 5667th and 6049th 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 Medellin infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Medellin

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

	Johannesburg	Medellin
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$6.13
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$24.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$7.21
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$2.02
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$1.92
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$1.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$439
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$312
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$851
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$618
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$47.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$73.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$22.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	14.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$1715
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$1447
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$0.79
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$41.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$13.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.12
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.3
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.26
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$2.33
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$5.44
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$5.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$9.62
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$2.49
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.54
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.29
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.19
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.83
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$3.41
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$4.41
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$4.4
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$1.85
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$2.28
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$29.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$4.57
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$31.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$64
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$99.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$292
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$5682

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 Medellin

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Envigado	$897
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Bello	$839
131 km or 82 mi	Manizales	$653
135 km or 84 mi	Quibdo	$705
160 km or 99 mi	Pereira	$680
171 km or 106 mi	Cartago	$649
179 km or 111 mi	Salento	$605
190 km or 118 mi	Armenia	$598
205 km or 127 mi	Ibague	$529
209 km or 130 mi	Facatativa	$674
212 km or 131 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1031
221 km or 137 mi	Zipaquira	$709
232 km or 144 mi	Girardot	$493
239 km or 148 mi	Soacha	$794
242 km or 150 mi	Turbo	$664
246 km or 153 mi	Bogota	$887
250 km or 155 mi	Tulua	$513
257 km or 160 mi	Tunja	$563
282 km or 175 mi	Monteria	$645
285 km or 177 mi	Duitama	$882
288 km or 179 mi	Bucaramanga	$657
289 km or 179 mi	Floridablanca	$648
298 km or 185 mi	Sogamoso	$534
308 km or 192 mi	Buenaventura	$742
312 km or 194 mi	Palmira	$666
318 km or 198 mi	Villavicencio	$497
329 km or 204 mi	Cali	$748
331 km or 206 mi	Ocana	$650
334 km or 208 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$669
340 km or 211 mi	Sincelejo	$524
346 km or 215 mi	Magangue	$604
367 km or 228 mi	Yopal	$722
370 km or 230 mi	Neiva	$557
386 km or 240 mi	Cucuta	$562
387 km or 241 mi	San Antonio del Tachira	$601
391 km or 243 mi	Rubio	$599
406 km or 252 mi	San Cristobal	$592
410 km or 255 mi	Tariba	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Popayan	$477
448 km or 279 mi	La Grita	$618