Johannesburg vs Moscow - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Moscow
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$1244
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$3114
🏠 One person rent	$441	$730
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$1434
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$312
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$100
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$1546
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	72	96
😀 Quality of life	57	74
🏙️ Population	4.43M	13.1M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 20% less expensive than in Moscow. Cities ranked 5539th and 4359th ($993 vs $1244) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st in South Africa and Russia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Russia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.2 months in Moscow. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Moscow ranked 1st in Russia, while ranked 5667th and 1187th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Moscow infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Moscow

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

	Johannesburg	Moscow
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$9.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$46.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$5.26
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$3.79
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$2.85
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$1.24
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$971
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$566
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$2192
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$1092
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$73.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$113
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$9.08
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	22.71%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$7641
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$3605
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$0.72
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$31.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$6.31
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$0.65
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$0.67
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.16
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$5.11
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$10.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.66
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$3.35
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$0.71
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.94
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$9.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$0.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$5.36
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$2.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$2.01
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$1.82
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$5.52
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$28.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$6.41
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$82.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$124
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$591
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$12252

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	$953
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$837
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$923
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$785
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$678
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$807
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$906
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$672
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$820
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$889
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$784
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$795
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$768
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$748
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$780
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$665
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$691
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$664
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$562
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$763
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$628
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$442
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$621
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$567
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$540
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$814
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$964
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$583
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1068
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$809
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$624
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003

Cities near Moscow

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Khimki	$786
19 km or 12 mi	Krasnogorsk	$791
19 km or 12 mi	Lyubertsy	$867
19 km or 12 mi	Mytishchi	$622
21 km or 13 mi	Balashikha	$676
22 km or 14 mi	Korolyov	$743
37 km or 23 mi	Podolsk	$633
52 km or 32 mi	Elektrostal	$719
96 km or 60 mi	Obninsk	$609
161 km or 100 mi	Kaluga	$538
161 km or 100 mi	Tver	$639
173 km or 107 mi	Tula	$552
179 km or 111 mi	Vladimir	$681
184 km or 114 mi	Ryazan	$564
248 km or 154 mi	Yaroslavl	$523
250 km or 155 mi	Ivanovo	$554
266 km or 165 mi	Rybinsk	$675
301 km or 187 mi	Kostroma	$540
326 km or 202 mi	Oryol	$505
349 km or 217 mi	Bryansk	$513
366 km or 228 mi	Dzerzhinsk	$636
369 km or 229 mi	Smolensk	$479
372 km or 231 mi	Lipetsk	$430
376 km or 234 mi	Cherepovets	$584
402 km or 250 mi	Nizhny Novgorod	$717
408 km or 254 mi	Vologda	$528
419 km or 260 mi	Tambov	$561
457 km or 284 mi	Kursk	$490
466 km or 290 mi	Voronezh	$448
474 km or 294 mi	Vitebsk	$300
491 km or 305 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$737
495 km or 308 mi	Starooskolsky	$473
496 km or 308 mi	Stary Oskol	$434
509 km or 316 mi	Mogilev	$474
513 km or 319 mi	Saransk	$438
555 km or 345 mi	Penza	$524
568 km or 353 mi	Gomel	$440
571 km or 355 mi	Sumy	$486
577 km or 359 mi	Belgorod	$552
601 km or 373 mi	Cheboksary	$592