Johannesburg vs Mogadishu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Johannesburg	Mogadishu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1204	$721
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2788	$1675
🏠 One person rent	$547	$267
🏘️ Family rent	$919	$400
🍽️ Food expenses	$351	$259
🚐 Transport expenses	$210	$64.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$420	$122
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	73	27
😀 Quality of life	60	22
🏙️ Population	4.8M	2.12M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 67% more expensive than in Mogadishu. Cities ranked 4745th and 7156th ($1204 vs $721) 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 0.3 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.2 months in Mogadishu. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Mogadishu ranked 1st in Somalia, while ranked 5850th and 9071st among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

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	$12.2	$2.98
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46	$57.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.16	$4.54
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$3.42
☕ Cappuccino	$2.41	$1.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.58
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$473	$164
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$70
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$862	$302
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$679	$127
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$111
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$164	$171
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$67
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.88%	9.12%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1060	$4145
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$777	$6374
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.85	$0.42
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$92.2	$19.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.38	$5.42
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.03
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.31
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$1.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$0.79
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$1.9
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.99	$5.04
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$4.53
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$3.78
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$3.02
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$1.27
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.5
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.75
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.35
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.58	$1.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.1	$3.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.89	$2.01
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.4	$1.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.66	$3.21
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.33	$2.77
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$1.5
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$1.18
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.8	$31.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.59	$26.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31	$14.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.27	$51.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.1	$14.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$25
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$244	$57.3
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5103	$629

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	$1104
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$912
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1031
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$851
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$784
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$997
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1015
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$742
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$994
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$902
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$875
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$872
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$811
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$903
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$691
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$723
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$691
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$607
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$882
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$663
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$494
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$660
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$611
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$549
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$904
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$912
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$590
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1014
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$938
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$632
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$965

Cities near Mogadishu

Distance	City	Cost of living
223 km or 138 mi	Baidoa	$745
824 km or 512 mi	Malindi	$563
849 km or 527 mi	Hargeisa	$682
860 km or 534 mi	Jijiga	$1045
883 km or 549 mi	Harar	$1050
883 km or 549 mi	Meru	$543
909 km or 565 mi	Borama	$521
923 km or 573 mi	Dire Dawa	$1050
925 km or 575 mi	Mombasa	$611
944 km or 586 mi	Awasa	$910
980 km or 609 mi	Thika	$448
981 km or 610 mi	Machakos	$415
1017 km or 632 mi	Nairobi	$807
1051 km or 653 mi	Tanga	$533
1054 km or 655 mi	Ali Sabieh	$561
1060 km or 659 mi	Dikhil	$563
1063 km or 661 mi	Nakuru	$532
1066 km or 663 mi	Addis Ababa	$1148
1072 km or 666 mi	Moshi	$540
1090 km or 677 mi	Djibouti City	$590
1127 km or 700 mi	Obock	$564
1131 km or 703 mi	Eldoret	$513
1131 km or 703 mi	Jimma	$746
1135 km or 705 mi	Arusha	$618
1139 km or 708 mi	Stone Town	$546
1139 km or 708 mi	Zanzibar	$586
1191 km or 740 mi	Dar es Salaam	$735
1191 km or 740 mi	Dessie	$931
1197 km or 744 mi	Aden	$509
1201 km or 747 mi	Kisumu	$549
1222 km or 759 mi	Mumias	$524
1246 km or 774 mi	Mbale	$624
1250 km or 777 mi	Tororo	$603
1291 km or 802 mi	Taiz	$497
1303 km or 810 mi	Morogoro	$417
1332 km or 828 mi	Ibb	$488
1346 km or 836 mi	Victoria	$1637
1361 km or 846 mi	Jinja	$573
1370 km or 851 mi	Zabid	$476
1377 km or 855 mi	Bahir Dar	$800