Johannesburg vs Ningbo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Ningbo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$713
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$1985
🏠 One person rent	$485	$302
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$533
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$277
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$72
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$768
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	74	60
😀 Quality of life	62	57
🏙️ Population	4.43M	9.4M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 52% more expensive than in Ningbo. Cities ranked 5031st and 7025th ($1082 vs $713) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 46th in South Africa and China, respectively. Check South Africa vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.1 months in Ningbo. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Ningbo ranked 49th in China, while ranked 5648th and 6133rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Ningbo infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Ningbo

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

	Johannesburg	Ningbo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$4.21
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$25.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$4.32
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$1.62
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$3.65
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.43
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$355
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$231
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$632
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$425
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$37.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$57.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$8.65
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	3.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$5268
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$3300
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$15.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$4.29
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$1.09
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$2.15
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.96
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$18.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$3.95
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$11.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$1.39
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$1.57
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.19
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.74
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.93
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$11.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$0.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$3.88
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$12.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$4.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$2.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$2.11
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$23.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$6.69
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$14
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$4.62
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$45.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$62.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$598
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$15234

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 Ningbo

Distance	City	Cost of living
55 km or 34 mi	Zhoushan	$576
94 km or 58 mi	Shaoxing	$740
120 km or 75 mi	Linhai	$666
124 km or 77 mi	Jiaxing	$597
139 km or 87 mi	Hangzhou	$826
144 km or 89 mi	Shanghai	$1128
150 km or 93 mi	Pudong	$1003
156 km or 97 mi	Yiwu	$672
167 km or 104 mi	Wenling	$677
177 km or 110 mi	Kunshan	$696
178 km or 111 mi	Huzhou	$631
180 km or 112 mi	Taicang	$673
182 km or 113 mi	Suzhou	$771
203 km or 126 mi	Jinhua	$586
212 km or 132 mi	Changshu	$632
216 km or 134 mi	Qidong	$696
224 km or 139 mi	Wuxi	$679
224 km or 139 mi	Lishui	$696
226 km or 140 mi	Wenzhou	$753
227 km or 141 mi	Haimen	$612
234 km or 146 mi	Yixing	$674
234 km or 146 mi	Guangde	$642
242 km or 150 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
243 km or 151 mi	Nantong	$547
249 km or 155 mi	Rui'an	$700
257 km or 160 mi	Jiangyin	$634
260 km or 162 mi	Ningguo	$637
262 km or 163 mi	Liyang	$639
263 km or 163 mi	Changzhou	$601
267 km or 166 mi	Jingjiang	$621
278 km or 173 mi	Quzhou	$604
294 km or 182 mi	Xuancheng	$659
294 km or 183 mi	Taixing	$622
294 km or 183 mi	Rugao	$630
302 km or 187 mi	Danyang	$597
310 km or 193 mi	Yangzhong	$597
313 km or 194 mi	Huangshan	$620
313 km or 195 mi	Hai'an	$634
325 km or 202 mi	Jurong	$618
327 km or 203 mi	Zhenjiang	$531