Johannesburg vs Moscow - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Moscow
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$1438
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$3409
🏠 One person rent	$485	$864
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$1523
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$109
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$881
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	74	96
😀 Quality of life	62	73
🏙️ Population	4.43M	13.3M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 25% less expensive than in Moscow. Cities ranked 5031st and 4141st ($1082 vs $1438) 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 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.6 months in Moscow. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Moscow ranked 1st in Russia, while ranked 5648th and 2664th 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	$10.1	$12.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$55.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$6.18
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$4.27
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$3.35
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$1.47
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$1183
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$660
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$2170
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$1176
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$91.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$140
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$8.08
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	24.47%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$9466
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$4008
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$37.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$5.62
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$0.78
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$1.25
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$0.87
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.55
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$1.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$12.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$5.71
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$11.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.8
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$2
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$2.02
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$3.57
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.99
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.8
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$2.5
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$9.17
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$1.12
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$3.09
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$4.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$3.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$1.92
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.81
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$43.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$7.34
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$34.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$6.45
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$78.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$127
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$688
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$15272

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 Moscow

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Khimki	$914
19 km or 12 mi	Krasnogorsk	$915
19 km or 12 mi	Lyubertsy	$917
19 km or 12 mi	Mytishchi	$800
21 km or 13 mi	Balashikha	$898
22 km or 14 mi	Korolyov	$831
37 km or 23 mi	Podolsk	$876
52 km or 32 mi	Elektrostal	$863
96 km or 60 mi	Obninsk	$671
161 km or 100 mi	Kaluga	$582
161 km or 100 mi	Tver	$727
173 km or 107 mi	Tula	$837
179 km or 111 mi	Vladimir	$650
184 km or 114 mi	Ryazan	$692
248 km or 154 mi	Yaroslavl	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Ivanovo	$615
266 km or 165 mi	Rybinsk	$678
301 km or 187 mi	Kostroma	$765
326 km or 202 mi	Oryol	$660
349 km or 217 mi	Bryansk	$629
366 km or 228 mi	Dzerzhinsk	$697
369 km or 229 mi	Smolensk	$547
372 km or 231 mi	Lipetsk	$570
376 km or 234 mi	Cherepovets	$543
402 km or 250 mi	Nizhny Novgorod	$882
408 km or 254 mi	Vologda	$544
419 km or 260 mi	Tambov	$672
457 km or 284 mi	Kursk	$649
466 km or 290 mi	Voronezh	$707
474 km or 294 mi	Vitebsk	$293
491 km or 305 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$734
495 km or 308 mi	Starooskolsky	$537
496 km or 308 mi	Stary Oskol	$485
509 km or 316 mi	Mogilev	$545
513 km or 319 mi	Saransk	$719
555 km or 345 mi	Penza	$537
568 km or 353 mi	Gomel	$475
571 km or 355 mi	Sumy	$496
577 km or 359 mi	Belgorod	$718
601 km or 373 mi	Cheboksary	$772