Johannesburg vs Medellin - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Johannesburg	Medellin
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1079	$873
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2553	$2221
🏠 One person rent	$487	$395
🏘️ Family rent	$837	$782
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$264
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$130
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1695	$417
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	72	67
😀 Quality of life	58	53
🏙️ Population	4.43M	2.53M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 24% more expensive than in Medellin. Cities ranked 5069th and 6207th ($1079 vs $873) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd 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 1.6 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 5446th and 6039th among best cities to live in the world.

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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	$9.91	$5.77
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.5	$24
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$6.82
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$1.83
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$1.96
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$436
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$300
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$781	$864
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$657	$646
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.2	$45.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$70.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.3	$21.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.54%	15.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1096	$1473
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$753	$1403
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.89	$0.72
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.8	$43
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.6	$12.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$0.98
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$1.06
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.66	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$5.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$5.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.49	$10.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.22
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$0.92
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.26
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.18
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.14
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$1.59
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.14	$10.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.36	$1.05
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$2.18
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2	$2.89
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$2.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.1	$27
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.67	$4.13
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.8	$35.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$8.07
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$56.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$91.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$241	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5865	$6129

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 Medellin

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Envigado	$871
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Bello	$789
131 km or 82 mi	Manizales	$653
135 km or 84 mi	Quibdo	$661
160 km or 99 mi	Pereira	$641
171 km or 106 mi	Cartago	$619
179 km or 111 mi	Salento	$562
190 km or 118 mi	Armenia	$541
205 km or 127 mi	Ibague	$501
209 km or 130 mi	Facatativa	$641
212 km or 131 mi	Barrancabermeja	$573
221 km or 137 mi	Zipaquira	$681
232 km or 144 mi	Girardot	$483
239 km or 148 mi	Soacha	$748
242 km or 150 mi	Turbo	$634
246 km or 153 mi	Bogota	$868
250 km or 155 mi	Tulua	$477
257 km or 160 mi	Tunja	$526
282 km or 175 mi	Monteria	$620
285 km or 177 mi	Duitama	$851
288 km or 179 mi	Bucaramanga	$642
289 km or 179 mi	Floridablanca	$584
298 km or 185 mi	Sogamoso	$523
308 km or 192 mi	Buenaventura	$718
312 km or 194 mi	Palmira	$652
318 km or 198 mi	Villavicencio	$475
329 km or 204 mi	Cali	$733
331 km or 206 mi	Ocana	$590
334 km or 208 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$638
340 km or 211 mi	Sincelejo	$506
346 km or 215 mi	Magangue	$582
367 km or 228 mi	Yopal	$687
370 km or 230 mi	Neiva	$520
386 km or 240 mi	Cucuta	$552
387 km or 241 mi	San Antonio del Tachira	$601
391 km or 243 mi	Rubio	$598
406 km or 252 mi	San Cristobal	$592
410 km or 255 mi	Tariba	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Popayan	$462
448 km or 279 mi	La Grita	$617