Johannesburg vs Mogadishu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Mogadishu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$715
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$1661
🏠 One person rent	$485	$263
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$252
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$67.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$112
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	74	25
😀 Quality of life	62	15
🏙️ Population	4.43M	2.12M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 51% more expensive than in Mogadishu. Cities ranked 5031st and 7013th ($1082 vs $715) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in South Africa and Somalia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Somalia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.2 months in Mogadishu. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Mogadishu ranked 2nd in Somalia, while ranked 5648th and 9189th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Mogadishu infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Mogadishu

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

	Johannesburg	Mogadishu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$3.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$53.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$4.52
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$4.03
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$1.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.5
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$142
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$78.1
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$259
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$143
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$161
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	8.02%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$4802
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$9000
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$19.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$5.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$1.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$1.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.8
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$5.03
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$3.66
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$4.48
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$3.74
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.99
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$2.74
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.28
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.22
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.08
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$3.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$1.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$1.21
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$3.08
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$2.77
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$1.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.19
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$31.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$26.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$15
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$51.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$17.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$26.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$50.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$575

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	$984
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$890
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$984
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$826
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$740
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$892
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$975
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$706
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$875
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$940
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$838
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$830
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$808
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$762
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$833
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$637
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$668
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$637
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$599
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$827
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$607
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$469
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$650
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$577
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$598
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$514
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$861
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$908
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$536
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$915
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$892
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$587
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$915

Cities near Mogadishu

Distance	City	Cost of living
223 km or 138 mi	Baidoa	$724
824 km or 512 mi	Malindi	$548
849 km or 527 mi	Hargeisa	$694
860 km or 534 mi	Jijiga	$1169
883 km or 549 mi	Harar	$1175
883 km or 549 mi	Meru	$549
909 km or 565 mi	Borama	$502
923 km or 573 mi	Dire Dawa	$1175
925 km or 575 mi	Mombasa	$596
944 km or 586 mi	Awasa	$1031
980 km or 609 mi	Thika	$460
981 km or 610 mi	Machakos	$420
1017 km or 632 mi	Nairobi	$811
1051 km or 653 mi	Tanga	$552
1054 km or 655 mi	Ali Sabieh	$557
1060 km or 659 mi	Dikhil	$559
1063 km or 661 mi	Nakuru	$503
1066 km or 663 mi	Addis Ababa	$1289
1072 km or 666 mi	Moshi	$533
1090 km or 677 mi	Djibouti City	$586
1127 km or 700 mi	Obock	$560
1131 km or 703 mi	Eldoret	$528
1131 km or 703 mi	Jimma	$802
1135 km or 705 mi	Arusha	$612
1139 km or 708 mi	Stone Town	$567
1139 km or 708 mi	Zanzibar	$609
1191 km or 740 mi	Dar es Salaam	$799
1191 km or 740 mi	Dessie	$1039
1197 km or 744 mi	Aden	$517
1201 km or 747 mi	Kisumu	$543
1222 km or 759 mi	Mumias	$511
1246 km or 774 mi	Mbale	$654
1250 km or 777 mi	Tororo	$623
1291 km or 802 mi	Taiz	$522
1303 km or 810 mi	Morogoro	$421
1332 km or 828 mi	Ibb	$512
1346 km or 836 mi	Victoria	$1585
1361 km or 846 mi	Jinja	$582
1370 km or 851 mi	Zabid	$499
1377 km or 855 mi	Bahir Dar	$864