Johannesburg vs Melbourne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Johannesburg	Melbourne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1171	$2496
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2754	$6197
🏠 One person rent	$522	$1388
🏘️ Family rent	$894	$2468
🍽️ Food expenses	$337	$606
🚐 Transport expenses	$216	$346
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1761	$4328
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	73	100
😀 Quality of life	65	100
🏙️ Population	4.8M	5.35M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 53% less expensive than in Melbourne. Cities ranked 4839th and 893rd ($1171 vs $2496) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 4th in South Africa and Australia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.7 months in Melbourne. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Melbourne ranked 1st in Australia, while ranked 5190th and 1st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Johannesburg vs Melbourne

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

	Johannesburg	Melbourne
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$43.9	$71.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.73	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.81	$9.06
☕ Cappuccino	$2.48	$4.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.16	$2.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$448	$1549
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$1138
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$804	$2861
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$689	$2079
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91	$115
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$142	$180
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40	$52.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.13%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1058	$7481
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$785	$6465
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.12	$3.9
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$88.7	$132
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.88	$19.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.4	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.43	$1.73
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$2.72
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$2.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.52	$5.92
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.48	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.59	$9.85
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.91	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.97	$3.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$3.25
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$3.42
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$4.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$3.06
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$2.73
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.75	$1.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.62	$2.74
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.21	$14.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.66	$5.42
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.47	$25.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.83	$8.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.49	$6.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.29	$3.3
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.41	$2.88
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.5	$48.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.38	$15.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.1	$53.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.19	$26.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$80
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$127
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$229	$2232
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5808	$26129

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	$1089
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$958
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1057
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$892
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$792
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$967
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1049
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$765
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$865
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$1017
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$791
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$910
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$899
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$826
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$875
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$826
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$901
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$697
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$731
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$604
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$694
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$652
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$912
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$662
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$573
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$511
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$681
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$628
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$763
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$630
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$551
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$927
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$716
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$916
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$583
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$966
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$948
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$633
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$950

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1829
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1822
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1894
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1928
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1906
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1860
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1896
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2217
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1604
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1487
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1979
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1815
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1898
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1824
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1753
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2223
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1904
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1821
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2308
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1477
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1699
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2338
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1710
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1867
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2482
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2050
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2379
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1997
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2128
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1288
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172