Johannesburg vs Meru - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Johannesburg	Meru
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1079	$535
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2553	$1499
🏠 One person rent	$487	$177
🏘️ Family rent	$837	$411
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$259
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$38.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1695	$443
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	69 km
🎓 Higher education	72	30
😀 Quality of life	58	25
🏙️ Population	4.43M	42.7K

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 102% more expensive than in Meru. Cities ranked 5069th and 8393rd ($1079 vs $535) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 4th in South Africa and Kenya, respectively. Check South Africa vs Kenya comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.8 months in Meru. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Meru ranked 9th in Kenya, while ranked 5446th and 8584th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Meru infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Meru

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

	Johannesburg	Meru
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.91	$3.91
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.5	$31.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$5.83
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$2.33
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$2.37
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$0.65
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$191
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$102
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$781	$648
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$657	$269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.2	$17.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$26.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.3	$40.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.54%	14.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1096	$1063
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$753	$1352
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.89	$0.76
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.8	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.6	$14
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.08
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$0.89
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$0.57
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.77
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.66	$1.71
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$6.13
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.49	$5.19
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.72
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.05
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$0.98
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.04
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.46
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$1.35
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.14	$12.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.36	$2.17
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$3.08
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$3.14
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$3.77
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2	$0.94
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$1.18
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.1	$33.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.67	$6.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.8	$21.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$3.94
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$19.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$66.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$241	$166
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5865	$8360

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 Meru

Distance	City	Cost of living
138 km or 85 mi	Thika	$571
175 km or 109 mi	Nairobi	$745
179 km or 111 mi	Machakos	$482
180 km or 112 mi	Nakuru	$493
268 km or 167 mi	Eldoret	$460
323 km or 201 mi	Kisumu	$518
354 km or 220 mi	Mumias	$483
378 km or 235 mi	Moshi	$548
392 km or 244 mi	Tororo	$581
395 km or 245 mi	Arusha	$543
403 km or 250 mi	Mbale	$583
455 km or 283 mi	Malindi	$502
496 km or 308 mi	Jinja	$511
508 km or 316 mi	Mombasa	$560
559 km or 347 mi	Kira Town	$643
564 km or 351 mi	Kampala	$707
577 km or 359 mi	Entebbe	$559
591 km or 367 mi	Tanga	$601
600 km or 373 mi	Mwanza	$466
666 km or 414 mi	Gulu	$579
712 km or 442 mi	Stone Town	$675
712 km or 443 mi	Zanzibar	$736
732 km or 455 mi	Dodoma	$564
749 km or 465 mi	Baidoa	$711
764 km or 475 mi	Morogoro	$639
783 km or 486 mi	Dar es Salaam	$722
784 km or 487 mi	Awasa	$810
819 km or 509 mi	Arua	$576
840 km or 522 mi	Bunia	$784
852 km or 529 mi	Jimma	$590
852 km or 530 mi	Kasese	$568
858 km or 533 mi	Juba	$520
862 km or 536 mi	Byumba	$622
873 km or 542 mi	Kigali	$723
875 km or 544 mi	Muyinga	$509
883 km or 549 mi	Mogadishu	$719
907 km or 563 mi	Ruhengeri	$598
911 km or 566 mi	Ruyigi	$509
911 km or 566 mi	Beni	$768
918 km or 570 mi	Nyanza	$545